Fighter's Calling
by Mahou Shoujo Crystalic Katomi
Summary: The Storm Hawks head for a new terra, where warriors from across the Atmos come to compete in their tornament. But is it a friendly competition or is something sinister happening along the sidelines.
1. Prologue: Reason

_**Fighter's Calling**_

Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, or any characters owned by the authors and authoresses here. All characters, settings, ideas, and concepts belong to their respective owners. However, I do own Emma and the setting of where this is taking place.

_Prologue: Reason_

Why is there fighting?

Throughout history in one world or another, there always have been battles or wars against two or more sides. Sometimes it is for the greater good, and at other times, it is just plain stupid. But still fighting is fighting, and in an age of peace, it is pointless. But why do they still do it?

Is there some reason to these battles? Some say there are; they say for protection, for survival, to save a love one. But are those the reasons? Do they fight for good intentions or to just get rid of the extra testosterone in their body?

Maybe it is for something more… Or maybe there is no reason at all.

* * *

Everyone peeked over Aerrow's shoulders as he was reading a flyer the Storm Hawks recently got. To anyone without any knowledge of Atmos' language, it said that there was going to be a fighting contest on Terra Colussmis, a terra where fighting was praised in the coliseum for it was named after. It was discovered not too long ago, so there were still some things unknown about it. But one thing for sure, since it was their vacation break, their leader wouldn't mind to check it out.

"So guys, wanna head over to Terra Colussmis to check it out?" he asked, causing everyone to cheer in response. Everyone wanted to go to Terra Colussmis for a reason: for Piper, it was to learn about the terra; for Finn, it was the cute girls there; for Junko, it was the food; for Stork, it was to see if there was anything against his "common" threats; and for Radarr, it was to take a rest from all the missions they had done. The red head smiled, before looking over at the couch where a person who was staying with them was lying lazily on the couch. "What about you, Emma? There's a fighting tournament that you probably want to do."

The brunette girl just laid there and answered, "Sure, I want to go to Terra Colussmis. But it is because we've been in the air for too long." The teen squadron sweatdropped; they still didn't understand why she like being on the ground more than flying on the Condor. "And I'm not going to do that tournament; there are going to be a lot of people stronger than me and I know I'm going to lose in the first round anyway." That made them sweatdropped even more; she was a little bit stronger than she thought she was, but then again, there were really strong people in the Atmos.

Stork, using his sneaky skills, grabbed the paper that the sky knight was hold and said, "Oh look, the winner of the tournament get a lifetime supply of ramen." The others just stared at him with freaked-out faces. They didn't know what ramen was, but their friend sure did talk a lot about how she missed it back on Gaia.

Suddenly, the girl instantly jumped off the couch and shouted, "I'm in!" Then, she headed towards Aerrow's room to find the Dark Ace dummy to practice on. Everyone else just stared at this miraculous change; they'll never understand the power of ramen.

Then, Piper grabbed the paper and began to read it. Then, she looked at the merb and said, "Stork, what makes you think the prize is ramen? It says here the prize is unknown." That made everyone looked over at him. His only response was smirking evilly.

"Oh… I know that, but she doesn't," the pilot said, causing his eye to twitch. Everyone sweatdropped at this; they knew Stork didn't like Emma so much because of her Gaian heritage. But that didn't give him a reason to make her fight. Oh well, maybe it was for the best other than her just laying around the ship when they're there anyway.

And so, the Condor started flying towards Terra Colussmis, not knowing what lies there for them.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Okay, this is one of my newest project fics and it is going to have a lot of characters, depending on how many peeps want in on the action.

Anyway, I'm going to lay down some rules for this. I know there are going to be a lot of OCs being entered, but only several will appear. So, don't get mad if yours doesn't appear in this. Also, 1-2 fighters must be entered per user, but you can have many in the stands as possible. One note though, those in the stands are not connected as much to the storyline as the fighters are. So, choose carefully.

Now, if you are entering, I not only going to need the basic description (looks, story, abilities, etc.), but I'm going to need their level as well. Why, you may ask? It helps when choosing a winner when they fight. If you have trouble choosing what level your character is, think about what level they were at the beginning of your story, their fights, the experience they gained, and anything else that might help. For example, Emma is probably in the late 10's or early 20's of experience.

And another note; I'm really crummy at fight scenes and might need a second person to help. But I'll try to update this as fast as I can.

Please Read, Review and if you want, enter through review, email, or PM.


	2. Chapter 1: The Combat Terra

Disclaimer: All characters, places, concepts, and ideas belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 1: The Combat Terra_

Terra Colussmis was a large terra with a temperate atmosphere and a big forest. The terrain on it was also very rough, making ground travel very difficult unless on foot. The only civilization on the terra was a small city next to its big coliseum; they tried to expand but according to their legends, the forest fought back, covering up what was left of their conquering empire. As for the people, they love fighting and competition above all else. Even their basic government system was based on the strongest warrior ruling over all its citizens, whether it is male, female, or not human at all. Yup, they were really in the past on how to do things.

And just as the Condor landed on its docking bay, the Gaian quickly ran out and headed to where the fighters were registering for the contest. Everyone else just watched and smiled nervously; she must have really wanted that "ramen" prize.

"Hey, Aerrow," called Junko, as the red head looked at him, "Aren't ya going with Emma? I thought you said you want to enter the contest too." The sky knight did say that he wanted to face some opponents since the Dark Ace wasn't bothering them as much. Of course, it did make it hard on whom to cheer for if they were to fight against each other.

"Yea, I'm going to be in it… I just want to check out this terra first, you know, see the competition," Aerrow answered, making the others to nod. It made perfect sense; Colussmis was neutral in the war since it had been newly discovered. But it was perfectly clear to get this terra on their side, especially with Cyclonia planning some secret schemes for Atmos. "So, Piper, what is there to see on this terra?"

The tanned girl smiled, before looking at a brochure she had gotten recently, "Well… Other than the coliseum, it says here that there's a library we could check out." This caused Finn to groaned, before receiving a glare from her. "… There are also the Mana Pools, which says here that mana is like some sort of lifeforce of anything living, even the world, and it says that the pools help revitalize warriors both mentally and physically… But maybe it is a gimmick and these things are just plain water."

"What do you mean just plain water?!" yelled a passing patron in a gruff voice. The tanned girl was about disagreed with his statement before looking at him. The whole squadron gasped as they saw a really buff man walking into the crowds of town. They all gulped as they stared at the muscular men and women of this terra; maybe it was for the best not to insult their cultural landmarks in order to stay alive.

After a few minutes of staring, their leader snapped back to reality and said, "Come on, let's just explore, we might find something to do." He started to walk, soon being followed by some of the others. Seeing all these people, he had one thing to say about the upcoming competition. This was going to be tough to win.

* * *

After several minutes or so of running around randomly, Emma finally found where the registration for the tournament was being held. And staring at the crowd before her really made her boost of confidence shattered. There were people there who looked buff, swift, and/or had really strong weapons. And compare to her, she was nothing more than a small bug that they could squish easily. At least she didn't see anyone who looked like a Talon and/or sky knight here; the two were probably too busy fighting each other than to be involved with some silly brawl.

'Why am I doing this again?' she asked herself, while looking dreamingly at the sky. Then, she remembered. It was for the prize; a lifetime supply of ramen. She could almost smell its wonderful aroma and see its tasty goodness; the golden noodles, the hot, salty broth. Winning that prize was so good; the girl could almost taste the goodness… For some reason, the goodness tasted furry in her mouth.

"Ummm, would you stop eating my tail, please?" the tasty ramen said, as the teen snapped back into reality. She then looked down to see that she was eating a fox tail that led up to man, fox demon probably because of the fox ears, who looked a bit older than her. He had blonde-red hair, yellow eyes, and two claw-marks near the bottom of his cheeks; he was also wearing what looked like jeans and a shirt, and looked very confused at her. Looking down at the tail, she smiled sheepishly before letting go. Her ramen-scarcity must have been infecting her sanity literally.

Emma stood up before asking, "So… You're entering the tournament too?" He probably was since this was pretty big. Well, the Storm Hawks were here and pretty much she felt there were some people who wanted to kick the butts other than the Cyclonians.

"I already did," he answered as his nose wrinkled in disgust. Then, the fox started to sniff her. The teen didn't know whether to be really honored or just really scared. After a few whiffs, he asked, "Have you been bathing lately?" She was about to answer, before another voice yelled out.

"Vireo! What are you doing?!" called a feminine voice, as the two looked to see another fox person stomping angrily towards them. She was another brunette with violet eyes. In the sight of this, the human concluded that maybe these two were in some sort of relationship. Once stopping, she yelled, "You said you were registering! Why are you sniffing this…?" She sniffed the girl as well before finishing, "This girl?!"

"Nothing! She was chewing my tail a little earlier, and we were talking about the contest. She's entering it as well." the man answered. His answer didn't help much. The woman glared at the girl before grabbing her boyfriend's ear and dragging him away. She complained about talking to the enemy while he looked annoy at this moment. The Gaian gulped; they were definitely a couple.

After that incident, she started to look for the register while trying to figure out how to go about this. Since she only knew how to write her name in English, it might cause some difficulty and some suspicion if she were writing it. So, it would probably be better if she just speak instead of writing a bunch of scribbles. Now, she just had to find where to enter.

A few seconds later, she found a free table and ran to it before anyone else could. Once making it there, she smirked and said, "I want to sign up for the tournament. But I can't write down the information I need to enter." The person looked at her with a raised eyebrow while she smiled nervously. This probably wasn't going to work.

Then, the register just shrugged before saying, "Alright, I just need your name." She sighed with relief; there were probably many people who do this sort of thing all the time. Once telling the person her name, he wrote it down and afterwards, handed her a blue sash. "Tie this around arm; this represents yourself as a fighter in this tournament and will grant you many honors. If you lose in an official match or the preliminaries, you would lose the sash."

"Really?" said the girl, sort of surprise. Once tying the bandana, she admired it a little; it looked cool on her arm. "I like this."

"We added it when our new leader came to be. This use to be a murder fest before he defeated the last leader!" the person said, seemingly excited about the carnage before. The teen paled before walking around and forgetting about the whole thing. What matter now was getting the ramen and beating anyone who stands in her way. She was so overly confident that she could take on an army of robots for all she cares; luck on her side and so far, everything was going her way.

… She thought too soon.

Emma quickly ducked behind the crowd when she thought she saw a familiar pirate captain in front of her. Oh man, when Karma was smiling on her for one second and then, this recurrently problem comes up in her face. She didn't want to be chased by pirates, not when she was so close to having what she missed. So, she quickly moved away, looking for a good place to lay low until the contest starts. Hopefully, she wouldn't get into any trouble before then.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Storm Hawks were wondering around the place, checking out all the sights of Colussmis. It was mostly food and weapon shops; but it was still interesting. The residents were really strong, even the women and children were lifting up things that normal humans beings wouldn't. Junko just sighed as he followed his friends through the streets. This reminded him of home, except it was with humans instead of wallops.

"Wow, this place is big," quoted Piper, as the gang continued to walk. Other than the locals, they also recognized some from different terras. This tournament must have gone worldwide since Colussmis had been discovered. "… You know, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw the Talons or Raptors in this contest either."

"Yea, they would join, but I haven't seen any Talons yet and I know the Raptors are too busy with the hunting season to join some silly contest," said a voice, as the group turned to who said it. There was a lizard; well, she looked like a lizard, but had hair with three-fingers and a thumb, with white scales. Her eyes were green and her black hair was tied in a pony-tail. She was wearing a black shirt with kimono sleeves, while her leggings were black with a blue sash around the upper part as well. The squadron just stared until their merb pilot just yelped and hid behind Junko; he didn't want to be lunch.

Piper rolled her eyes at Stork and said, "Stork, she's obliviously Dragonkin; there kinda like a mix between Raptors and Terradons. They are good fighters, but are very peaceful." Once looking back at the dragonkin, she observed, "She must be the kind who is more human than the others."

The older female smirked before saying, "My name is Tokage. You must be the Storm Hawks that Repton is always screaming about after he comes back from a failed mission." She then started to approach them, causing the kids to tense up. But after a while, they got used to her presence. She looked at the red head before saying, "You must be the young boy who took up the position as the Storm Hawks sky knight. I would be very honor to fight you if you are doing this tournament."

The boy nodded and said, "Same to you, since I hear your race are great fighters as well." The two then bowed at each other, to acknowledge their status, like the ancient warriors did. Suddenly, a blur pass the group, making them leap back a little. They recognized the blur to be short human, with bluish eyes and dark orange hair. The kids instantly recognized him as Rufus Dwight MacArthur, another human from the world of Earth/Gaia; maybe an alternate reality of it than what Emma was used to.

Watching him run, Aerrow looked at his team and said, "We better go after him. Rufus probably had gotten himself into trouble." Then, the others, along with Tokage, started to chase after the man. They wanted to chat with the guy, at least try to see what he was running away from. And after seeing Rufus here, there were probably more people here that they know, friends and enemies.

* * *

'What is this place?' the man thought, looking around where he was standing. There were people here; strange people, but people none the less. But he felt something was wrong here, like he shouldn't be in this place. But for some reason, he couldn't remember it. In fact, he couldn't remember anything that has happened to him up to this point. Maybe he should start with face first.

Walking over to a barrel of water, he looked down in to find his facial features. He had a mature face to begin with, a little stiff though. Also, he had long blonde hair and blue eyes. But his skin was a little white compare to the locals here. Lifting his head, he looked down at his body to see that he was buff and wearing gold plated armor, along with a blue sash on his arm. That gave him a little bit of what his identity was, but he still didn't have his memory.

The blonde looked for anything else that could help him, before hearing someone called out, "Hey!" He turned to see a girl with silver hair in a pony-tail and violet eyes with some red in them. She was also wearing black corset that shows her stomach, black pant, steel-toed black boots, black, fingerless gloves with the blue sash around them as well, and a black choker with a green crystal on it. The girl also had on black lipstick and her ears had two piercings in them. Once examining him, she asked, "Are you okay?"

He blinked, before holding his head. "I think… I am," he answered, still confused to what was going on. The woman just stared, looking a little worried. Then, she rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand, tugging him to follow her.

"Come on, let's take you to a doctor, you're cold and you seem a little pale," she said, feeling the coldness of his hands. The man nodded, following her lead. After a few minutes, she spoke, "You seem a little familiar. Do you have a name?" Of course, every living being had a name. Unfortunately, he didn't remember what it was at the time.

After getting a headache from thinking, he answered, "Lysander… I think." The silverette raised an eyebrow in response. His name sounded familiar, and he did look familiar… But then again, it may be a coincidence.

"Well, my name is Dawne Eagleheart; nice to meet you too," she retorted, while dragging him along. Unknown to the two, someone else was watching this scene. And while smirking evilly, part of his plan was working perfectly.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Done with this chapter! Sorry it took so long and is short. I had kinda a hard time writing this.

Anyway, no real fighting yet, if you don't count the ear pulling and tail munching as an offensive attack; but don't worry, you readers will see some carnage soon, especially with this kind of crowd.

But first, I really need to explain my level system to those who are really confused on the matter. It goes from 1 to 100 and it is based off a mixture of skills, battle-experience, and kills. For skills, it is 25%, for battle-experience, it is 60%, and for kills, it is 15%. For example, Aerrow is probably lvl 25 because he knows the Lightning Claw, had been in a lot of battles, and has beaten the Dark Ace a lot of times. Why are kills lowest things on here…? Because someone can kill a thousand Talons but still can't beat the Dark Ace.

Also, I'm telling you readers this because there might be more who want to still add their OC to the fighting bracket. To those who already add an OC, you can still add one more to be a fighter, and a lot more to the stands. But I still warning you, those in the stands are connected to the story as much as the fighters.

Also a note, I only own Emma and maybe the man who made a cameo. I'm going to make a list of who belongs to who in the next chapter, probably.

I would to thank SakariWolfe, Cold-heart-Angel23, Flame Soldier, Kitten2007, and NekoNekoMinako for reviews; Kitten2007 for the story fav, NekoNekoMinako for the Story Alert, and SakariWolfe, Flame Soldier, NekoNekoMinako, Kitten2007, and Hawk-Masters for sending in their OCs. To those who send in their OCs, sorry if I screw them up a bit. Yes, Stork being a meanie in this, but he is kinda. If you watch the show really closely, he does some mean things in it.

So Please Read and Review!


	3. Chapter 2: Meeting New People

Disclaimer: All characters, places, ideas, and concepts belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 2: Meeting New People_

"GIMME!!!"

Jack Blade just sat as he watched Rufus trying to jump up and grabbed back his beer that the black-haired man was holding. He didn't know why people like him drink this disgusting excuse for a beverage, but it definitely seem to make the other man irritated whenever he swipe it from him. Good thing he was high up on the building roof or else MacArthur would try to kill him.

Jack then noticed some very familiar characters heading towards him; a young redhead and his crew as he knew them to be the Storm Hawks, one out of many of this world's protectors. He remembered them from some escapades he and his members experience on Atmos. However, he didn't recognize the lizard-like person with them. They must have been here for the fighting tournament.

The kids looked over at Rufus, who was now yelling out words that shouldn't even be said in public, before looking up at genetically-modified vampire. It seemed he hadn't change since the last time they met, except that he aged into his fifties. And his suave attitude didn't change either by how calm he looked with the other raging Earthling. Feeling that they needed to catch up on old time, Aerrow looked up and called, "Hey Jack! How are you and your team doing?"

"Ne, just fine," the Chancellor answered, "Been doing a few things on Atmos here and there. In fact, Rufus and I are entering this tournament as well." The squadron just blinked, as the continued to stare at the scene. As much it was funny on some point, it was best to leave them be for a while. Besides, Aerrow needed to hurry with registering for the competition away.

While walking away, Tokage commented, "Strange two for humans… What terra are they from?" She was a little interested in those two because of how they looked. For some reason, the two didn't dress, act, or smell like anyone who had lived on Atmos.

"They're living on Terra Günther for now, but those guys are really from Earth," answered the leader, with no restrain. The Storm Hawks only promised Emma only that they could never tell of her heritage; Jack and Rufus probably wouldn't mind having their heritage be spilled out. Besides, the Dragonkin was friendly; well, at least to them.

The lizard just smiled happily, before saying, "Then I would be really proud to fight either of them in the arena." The gang just looked at her, a little bit confused, before she explained, "We Dragonkin respect Gaians for their great skill in their fighting and in life. In fact, some of our fighting sky fu is based off their techniques in battle." Now, most people in Atmos would consider Gaians to be a threat to their way of life, especially after what some of them did. But to actually to hear someone actually say that she and her race liked them, then maybe was hope for the other-worlders to live here in peace after all.

Finn, being a little bit stupid at the moment, happily said, "Then, you're going to like Emma because she's a G-" Before he could finish, Piper elbowed him in the ribs with a glare on her face. Now remembering the promise, the blonde looked back at the Dragonkin and said, "A good fighter. Emma's a good fighter." Now, this really confused her. She never heard of the Storm Hawks getting a new member. But then again, it was probably one of those who usually passing through. Of course, it would be interesting to fight this Emma person. For some reason, her scale were on the edge just thinking about the fights in this tournament.

* * *

Meanwhile, Dawne and Lysander were wondering through the city-part of the terra, trying to find a doctor to look at the pale man. Unfortunately, they weren't having such luck since most of the people here knew how to deal with wounds and not diseases. Of course, the two didn't know if what Lysander had was a disease or not, but it did worried him a little, especially not feeling the warmth of the girl's hand and the lost of his memory. Oh, he hoped to find someone to help him soon or else he didn't know what else to do.

Suddenly, while during their search, a voice called out, "Hey Dawne! There you are!" The two stopped and turned to a man, who looked a little older than the silverette. He had black, long, spikey hair with bangs and blue eyes. He was also wearing a blue sweater with armored-shoulders and black pants that cuffed around his black boots. Anyway, he ran up to the two and said, "I've been looking for you! I check where you were going to register, but I didn't see you there!" Then, noticing the blonde-haired man, he felt a little baffle and asked, "Who's he?"

Feeling his tense, the woman answered, "This is Lysander; he has amnesia and we're trying to find a doctor for him." That relaxed the man's mind a little but he still didn't like how the other male was holding her hand. Thinking that it was the truth, he smiled and held out his hand to the other. The amnesiac man blinked, before shaking the younger man's hand. For some reason, the younger felt a little cold when holding it.

"Well, it is a pleasure to meet you, Lysander, my name is Zack." The black-haired man introduced, before remembering something important and turning to Dawne, said, "You should be careful, Dawne. I saw some very dangerous rogues on this terra, including the Murk Raiders." Now, she knew that she could take care of herself against these guys. Lysander, however, didn't know what they were talking about.

"What are… These Murk Raiders folks?" he asked, causing the other two to facefault. Sure, there were still people who didn't know who the pirates were. But he could have figured it out just by the name.

The silverette decided to help him and explained to the blonde, "Murk Raiders are sky pirates that take about everything, including people. If they are here, then their captain definitely wants whatever on this terra." Of course, there was something that really confused her. "But why aren't they stealing stuff now like they usually do?"

"Well, do you wanna steal stuff in broad daylight with people like them around?" Zack retorted before pointing at really two buff guys who were friendly fighting with each other. Yes, nobody in their right mind would try to do anything to upset the people of Terra Colussmis or else they would have very big bruises. "Their captain might be using some strategy since I overheard a few of them talking about getting some ultimate treasure. Maybe they were thinking about the prize in this tournament." Then, looking over at the blonde, he said, "Anyway, I'll help you take him to a doctor. Whatever he has, it might get worse if left untreated."

The woman smiled, now feeling that it wouldn't be impossible to find one now, grabbed the pale man again and started to wonder around the city again; this time, she had Zack with her. She felt a little better with him around, but she knew she could take care of herself. After all, she was specially trained to be an assassin. Lysander, however, was still confused about the world he was in.

* * *

Vireo relaxed on the edge of the fountain, grateful for the invention of lunch. He was getting hungry and asked Osprey to get him some food. She obeyed, suspicious of his actions after she was going to leave, but nevertheless, trusted him to be alone for a while. Now, the fox demon had a few minutes of alone time until the beginning of the tournament or at least until Osprey comes back with the food.

While relaxing, his nose caught whiff of a cat, a wildcat. Now, he, being a fox, didn't care for cats that much. But the smell was near him, so he could at least explore this for a bit. The man sat up and looked around, until he caught sight of a teen girl with tan-cat ears and tail with light-blue tips, claws, fangs, and tiger markings on her tan skin. She also had shoulder-length black hair with that same ice blue streak that was on her fur, and dark-red eyes. She wore a gold-hater top with the white logo on her chest and the blue bandana for fighters, gold-leggings with white strips, white-laced boots, and gold wrist-guards with a sky knights' logo on it. She must be on a sky knight squadron. Now, this interested him.

Standing up, the fox walked over to her from behind and spoke, "Hello, my name is Vireo. I see you are entering this contest as well." The cat girl turned around and looked at him with a confused face. Then, she switched to an emotion of suspicious. Why else would some stranger walk up to her anyway?

"Yes, I'm here for the prize," she answered, before smirking. "It's probably some crystal I can use in my experiments." So, this cat girl was a crystal specialist. Now, this conversation was getting interesting.

"Ahhh, for your sky knight, I see," Vireo said, smiling. He hasn't seen that many sky knights, but he assumed that all of them were male. The girl, however, just huffed and glared at him.

"Yes… Because I'm the sky knight," the girl said, before looking at him, "Rhia Moonbeam of the Thunder Eagles." The fox almost choked at that statement; now, she was going to see him as some stupid human. Suddenly, he heard voices behind him and, the two looked to see a group coming towards them; a blue-haired merb girl, a tanned girl with elongated ears, a human male, and someone who he recognized as his fiancé. Oh, why were the gods treating him like this?

The group stopped and then stared at Vireo and Rhia with an awkward silence. As for Osprey, she was just glaring at the situation in front of her. The others, however, were very suspicious of the situation in front of him. The elfin girl looked over at the wild cat and asked, "Is this guy giving you problems?" But before anyone could say anything, the brunette fox spoke up.

"Vireo! Why are you flirting again?! This is the second time I saw you talking to someone who wasn't me, your fiancé!" she shouted, causing all the girls to glare at him; the man just looked at him with a laidback look. The yellow-eyed man chuckled nervously as he sweatdropped. He already explained that it was a normal conversation before; why were women always territorial over their men anyway? So, now he was stuck between Osprey and an angry group of teen girls.

… Tough break for him.

* * *

Kuroi was surprised, seeing all the people here just to fight was amazing. For him, coming all this way from Terra Ryu was worth it, especially with competitors like this. While some were here for the prize, he, along with some others, were just here to prove that he wasn't some weakling to be messed with. Now, that he could do easily. But there was one problem though; the Dragonkin was having trouble finding where everyone was registering.

While walking around the crowded streets, he felt bumped into and a strange smell entered through his nostrils. He looked around and saw a girl with brown hair and wearing strange clothes that he had never seen before. The lizard looked confused at her situation. Why was she running like that, especially when there was no one chasing her at this minute? After a half second standing there, he just shrugged and started to walk again.

It was a few minutes later that he stopped again. This time, it was by two funny-looking humanoids that really foul smelled; they were also dressed in pirate attire, which he concluded that these were the Murk Raiders he had heard so much about. He had to admit, they were a little bit scarier in person. But he wasn't afraid; they looked funnier.

Anyway, the two pirates had stopped his walking and one of them asked, "Hey, have you seen a girl? About yah-high, has golden brown hair, is rude to others." They were definitely talking about the girl he saw earlier. Of course, their description was a little bit vague that it could have meant anyone here.

"Why would you guys want her?" the black-haired lizard asked, a little curious to why they would want her anyway. The Raiders paled before whispering among themselves, not loudly enough for him to hear. This got him a little more suspicious. Several seconds later, the two looked back at him with evil smirks on their faces.

"She has something our captain wants," the other said, while trying to look innocent. Kuroi raised an eyebrow at this, getting more suspicious about this. Sure, the girl was running fast to be a suspect, but it still didn't give them any reason to chase her. Maybe he should just tell the truth or else they were going to bug him a lot.

"Yea, I saw her, she ran past me down the street," the Dragonkin answered back to them, causing the two to smile sinisterly and running off. He raised an eyebrow at this, growing even more suspicious of their actions. But he didn't care right now, he needed to register. Besides, they wouldn't do anything to go them in trouble; no one was that stupid.

* * *

While those were getting ready for their fights, hidden away in an alley, three figures were secretly planning. It was hard to describe them, since they were wearing cloaks. But their height ranged from the medium female-like figure to the very large bulky male. Anyway, the third figure, a slender male, looked at the two with a mad-like smirk underneath his hood.

"So, you know the plan, right?" he asked, as the others nodded. He chuckled, before saying, "These fighting freaks… While they're preoccupied with this little tournament, you two will scout out this terra; report its weaknesses, its strength, and any other interesting information we might need."

The woman looked at him and asked, "But what about the other contestants? What if they undiscovered your disguise during one of the battles?" Now, that was tricky. If anyone figured out whom he was and what their plans were, then it would be all over before it even it started.

Fortunately, he wasn't worried and answered, "If they it figured out, then we'll have to stall until our plan is complete. But until then, we'll have to play along with this terra's stupid contest. And when the time comes, these fools wouldn't know what had happen until it was too late." The other two smiled before they all headed out of the alleyway. Soon, the three gradually blended in with the crowds, awaiting their time to rise up. And when they do…

Let's just say that the people needed to prepare for the worse.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Okay, Chapter Three is done, with some new characters entering and some of the plot going. Also, a note, there are going to be a lot of subplots going on: some beginning, some taking, and some ending in other chapters. If you are confused of what's going on, please review the previous. Not the best solution, but it will do.

Okay, so this story isn't on Hiatus anymore. But I still feel it needs a few more fighters. So, people can still submit fighters OCs. I'll start on the next chapter next Friday and if anymore come up while writing; I'll try my best to add them.

I would like to thank Flame Soldier, Hawk-Masters, SakariWolf now NordicWolf, Kitten2007, NekoNekoMinako for the reviews, favs, alerts, and support. It is really great for me to use their OCs, because some of these peeps are really great fanfiction authors or, great authors in the works. And it is a great honor to be using their characters for this story.

So, in conclusion, Please Read and Review!


	4. Chapter 3: First Tastes of Trouble

Disclaimer: All characters, places, ideas, and concepts belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 3: First Tastes of Trouble_

Tokage and the Storm Hawks had made it to the registering area, and now, they were waiting on Aerrow, who was busy signing up for the tournament. By now, there were a lot of people crowding around, many who had waited at the last minute to enter. Tokage smiled; with these many people entering, it was going to be a blast to test out her skills against them.

The red head came back, this time, he had the same sash that the Dragonkin had on her arm. He was fiddling with it, a bit confused as to why the thing had to be on him in the first place. Looking over at the lizard girl, he asked, "Hey, Tokage, why do we have these sashes on?"

"It's to tell who's a fighter in the tournament," she answered, before looking down, "There was also the issue of how to end the battles. Before the current leader defeated the old one, this tournament was mostly a fight to the death. Now, with the exception of allowing people from other terras into this, they needed to change the rules a bit so there wouldn't be any issues with afterwards." That caused the group to pale as they listened; they didn't want Aerrow to be killed or for him to kill anyone. "The people here may be fighting freaks, but even they don't want to get into something that they can't control."

The sky knight nodded, but was still a little confused. "Okay, but it may be a little silly since I can take this off." He grabbed the knot and tried to untied but it didn't seem to budge. And after five minutes of trying to untie it, he gave up, defeated that he couldn't undo a simple knot. The others just laughed at the look on his face, which caused him to be even more annoyed. What was so funny about being beaten by a piece of clothing anyway?

The white-skinned reptilian continued to laugh before a familiar scent caught her. She took a couple of whiffs to confirm before looking around. Then, she saw a very familiar face signing up at one of the booths. Once the figure was done and had his sash on, Tokage stood up and walked over to him, calling out, "Kuroi! Long time, no see, huh?!"

The black-scaled Dragonkin quickly looked over at his old friend and ran over to her as well. He smiled before noticing three humans, one girl and two boys; a wallop, and a merb behind her. He wasn't outward with others, especially those strangers who weren't part of the anthro reptilian form. He snorted before looking at the raven-haired lizard and answered, "Yea, it has been… How are you doing, Tokage? Last time I heard, you were with the Raptors on Terra Bogaton."

The female just answered, "Yea, but I'm here to test out my skills against the fighters." Then, she tapped Kuroi's shoulder and asked him back, "What about you? I want to heard what have you been doing after I left." He sweatdropped; there wasn't that much to say since he couldn't remembered anything exciting that he did after he last saw her.

"Well…" he began sheepishly, trying to think of what to say. "… I got lost when trying to get here, and smelled something strange… Oh, and then the Murk Raiders stopped me and-" He was interrupted shortly by Stork.

"Wait, did you just Murk Raiders?" the merb asked, with his eye twitching. The male Dragonkin nodded, confused, which caused the Storm Hawks to become white with fear. No, sky pirates weren't as worse as Talons. But still, with them having to keep someone that they wanted a lot, things tend to get a little out of hand, especially if they were on a terra with a bunch of barbaric fighters. In other words, they better find their friend quick or else.

Aerrow switched to his serious leader personality and commanded, "Okay, everyone, split up and look for Emma before she gets herself into trouble." The others nodded, before going off in different directions. The red head then looked over at Tokage and Kuroi with a worried look on his face. "Now, I'm pretty sure you had other plans, but-" He was quickly interrupted by Tokage's hand.

"I understand, no matter how good your friend may be on her own, she still needs help." With that said, she smiled and spoke, "Kuroi and I will help you find your friend, but first what does she look like." For Kuroi, he didn't care about finding this person or not. But if it meant spending time with his childhood friend, he was in it.

The sky knight smiled before answering, "Our friend, Emma, has brown hair and blue eyes. She also wears clothing that you probably aren't familiar with." The two lizards nodded before running off in a direction, leaving the human alone with his thoughts. He shouldn't be worried; the Gaian had alluded trouble for many a time. But still, he felt like something bad was going to happen. Maybe it was just Junko's cooking coming back up.

* * *

After all that time, their search was in vain; Dawne, Zack, and Lysander had given up on looking for a doctor on this weird terra. Instead, they were just wondering around, exploring the sights and shops of the terra. But while Zack and Dawne were enjoying themselves, the amnesiac man was a bit trouble by his circumstances. With no memory or knowledge to go by, he was a stranger to not only these people but to himself as well. Oh, if he knew who he was, so he wouldn't be a burden on these two.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed two strange looking lizards heading in their direction. For some reason, he felt that these creatures might be trouble, but he shook his head, feeling that it was just paranoia talking. Anyway, the two came up to the group and the white-scaled female asked them, "Hey, have you seen a human girl? She is said to have brown hair, blue eyes, and wears strange clothing."

Dawne blinked before answering, "No, we haven't seen someone like that…" That disappointed the Dragonkin, but then, something caught in their noses. They started to sniff, causing the trio to raise an eyebrow at their behavior. Soon, the black-scaled lizard sniffed the blonde man, before rearing back and holding his nose in disgust. The female sniffed the human also before rearing back as well. This definitely confused the others.

"Excuze me," the girl reptilian started with her nose held, "But do you work in a graveyard, because you smell of rotting flesh." Everyone else just stared at him with wide-eyes. As much as it was an insult to Lysander, the people here would have agreed with them if they had a high sense of smell. And all of a sudden, Zack gently slammed his fist into the palm of his hand.

"Hey! Maybe Lysander is a grave digger!" he happily said, causing the others to sweatdropped. Sure, that would explain why he smelled so bad to the lizards. But still, why would a grave digger join a tournament in the first place? The blonde just held his face in total humiliation.

Dawne noticed the man's embarrassment and then told the lizards, "Well, sorry about you human friend. We'll try to look for her." The two Dragonkin smiled before going off in a different direction. Once out of sight, the silverette punched the black-haired man slightly, causing him to rub his arm while chuckling nervously. Lysander just sighed in solemn thought; he better figured who he was quick or else someone else might confused him for something else, probably something he didn't want to be.

* * *

Emma quickly ran inside a bar and slammed the door behind her, breathing deeply from exhaustion. Now, she was sure that she lost the Murk Raiders, even though they weren't chasing her at the moment. Still, it was a good thing to be prepared at the moment so she could get that out of the way. But she paled when she realized she was just a few feet away from the scurvy pirates. As the old saying goes, "out of the frying pan and into the fire"; or in this case, it was into the pirates' den.

Luckily, they didn't notice the Gaian yet, so she decided to get out of here as quietly as possible. She turned around and quietly tried to open the door, only to let it shut on it. She growled as she struggled to open it, but her attempts ended in vain. When taking a breather, she heard a cough, which caused her to pale. The teen slowly looked up to see the captain of the Raiders, staring down at her with a sick smile.

"Hello again, Gaian," Scabulous said, with a hint of slyness in his voice. The girl just smiled nervously at her current situation. Oh great, now she had to run again. Without thinking twice, she ran away quickly, leaving only a dust cloud behind her. Taking the sight of what was about to happen, the captain hastily look over at his crew and yelled, "Get her!" The crew quickly obeyed and pretty soon, everyone was doing laps around bar.

It was later, during the tenth lap, that Rufus entered the bar, grumbling. He still didn't get his beer back from Jack and there was a chance he would never have it again. So, he decided to get another drink, which was a step backwards since he would have a regular, bar drink instead of having one that he had been keeping for special occasions. Oblivious to what was happening, the man set himself down, grabbed a half-emptied mug that was left unprotected, and held it up. But before he could drink it, a stray shot from the mob hit the glass, causing it to shattered and spilling the alcohol held inside.

The orange-haired man was in depressing shock; after walking all this way to get a beer and now, it was tainted by the germs of the bar. Suddenly, his emotions turned to anger as he glared in the direction of where the shot came from, only to see a bunch of pirates chasing after a teen girl. Without hesitation, the soldier yelled out, "HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!!!!!!"

Everyone completely stopped and turned to the very pissed Rufus, who was fuming from the nose. "… Okay! I know drinkin' at this time of the day is wrong in some parts, but can I at least have a sip?! I was about to have some of the best beer where I come from and then, Jack swipes it and says that I can't have it until later! Now, one of you guys has to pay for my next mug of beer. Or else, I'll beat the hell out of each and every one of you!" He cracked his knuckles, causing Emma to gulp. She didn't have any type of currency on her, especially the kind to pay for a beer on Atmos. She looked over at Scabulous, hoping he would pay for it; but the look on him and his crew's faces made her feel otherwise.

"Sorry 'bout that, but can you wait until we have this lass back on the ship?" the captain asked, causing the other pirates to hold up some ropes and binds. The human huffed and started to march over to the group, clenching fists and all. The younger Earthling just gulped with tension; this wasn't going to end well.

* * *

Rhia looked over at Vireo and Osprey, who was glaring at the wild cat with anger. The sky knight sweatdropped; the male fox demon had explained that he wasn't trying to flirt with her or anyone else for that matter. He was just trying to kill time from waiting for his fiancé to return by talking to someone other than the brunette fox. She and her crew believed in his truth a little bit. But if he was really bored, he could have talk to someone who wasn't a girl; then, Osprey wouldn't have made that assumption that he was flirting with her. Oh well, at least they'll now have peace and quiet for the rest of the day until the tournament.

It was after that thought that the group saw someone fly out of a local bar and land on the ground, with birdies flying around her head. She looked a little disoriented while lying on the ground. Rhia raised an eyebrow at this; well, at least the terra was living up to its reputation of being a roughhouse of fighting. She looked over at the foxes again, this time to see their expressions change. Vireo was shocked, and Osprey was growling with her tail frizzed up.

"UGH! It's that smelly girl again!" the brown fox demon screeched, her eyes flaming with rage. Vireo just sighed at this statement. Rhia just blinked in confusion. The human did have a strange smell on her, something definitely that she hadn't smell in Atmos. Anyway, as the disoriented girl struggled to get up, another figure flew from the bar and landed on her; this time, it was beaten-up, orange-haired, grown man. The two lay on the ground, with birdies flying around their heads.

As the two got up several seconds later, the infamous Murk Raiders came out of the pub with their weapons out. That definitely caused the wild cat and her crew to go into a ready fighting stance. Sure, they weren't the regular, sky knight-hating Cyclonians that they usually battle, but still, they can never be too careful around these sky privateers, especially if they were here during the tournament.

"You better hand back that girl," the pirate captain said, pointing his sword at the orange-haired man, "Or else…" He smiled a malevolence smile, causing the young girl to gulp. Rhia just narrowed her eyes; she knew the Raider was making a big mistake. If he started an assault right out here in the street, the fight-crazed locals might join in and it would be a bloody massacre, definitely something not good. Nevertheless, Scabulous was about to attack until a hand quickly grabbed his arm and squeezed it, causing him to drop his blade.

"… I think it's best you leave," a voice said, belonging to the black-haired man who was holding the pirate. The sky knight sensed that his smell was just like the other man and girl, but there was a hint of unholy to it. The Raider glared, before the man said, "You may outnumber me and Rufus, but ever thought about what if the locals join in?" The captain growled, before looking around him. He noticed that some of the locals flexing their muscle, getting ready for a brawl; he even saw a sky knight squadron who were ready to take on the Murk Raiders as well. He looked over at his crew, who were chickening at the sight of the huge crowd; they seem to have the right idea at the moment.

Scabulous growled, before getting his sword and saying, "Fine, but girlie…" The brunette human peeked from behind the brawny man, clearly using him as a human shield. "I noticed that you're in the tourney… Which means I'll have plenty of time to catch you and take you unto my ship." Then, he and his crew laughed and left, causing the girl to feel sick to her stomach. Once the pirate crew was gone, the raven-haired man looked at his friend, who gulped at his cold-like stare.

"First off, how long was it to lose to a bunch of crooks like them?" the black-haired man asked, causing the orange-haired man to grumble with disappointment. "Secondly, do you think I'm that dumb to let you walk around in order to get another beer?" Rhia snickered at this scene; someone was definitely going to get it with their boss. She would have done the same thing if she saw one of her members going into a bar. While watching the conversation, she noticed that the strange-smelling girl creeping away from the two men, only to be grabbed by the furious one. "… Hold on, I want to know why those men were after you."

Okay, maybe he had gone a little bit too far. After all, she was just a normal, human girl who probably was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Besides, they already avoided one brawl; was another one really necessary? The wild cat was about to step in, before seeing the teen bite the hand and then running off once the man retracted his hand in pain. She hid her laugh, while the orange-haired human burst out before getting silence by the man's glare.

"Come on, the tournament might be starting soon," he said, before the two disappeared into the crowds. Rhia just stared while thinking about what was going on. She knew there would be outlaws joining this tournament as well, but she thought what did they have to gain from this? Sure, there could be a lot of treasures that were hidden, but wouldn't they risk their well-being just to get it? Something was definitely up, and she wanted to know what it was before it happens.

Vireo just looked over at her and said, "I saw bandanas on them… Those two are definitely in the tournament. And it seems we have competition for the prize." Rhia snorted; there was no way she wasn't going to let a couple of strangers get in the way of that crystal. If they really want it, they were going to have to trade with her, and she really drives a hard bargain.

* * *

Back at the coliseum, Aerrow leaned against the wall, worried. He knew Emma was older and has done fine by herself in the past, but she was still inexperience with Atmos and its dangers. And with the Murk Raiders on Colussmis, it was definitely plain to him that she wasn't safe by herself anymore. He just hope that either his crew or the Dragonkin find her before something bad happens.

Suddenly, he heard some panting, so the boy turned his head to see a very tired Gaian, who was dragging her arms across the floor. She definitely had figured out that the pirates were here and probably ran away from them. She plopped in front of him, out of breath and sweating; she definitely got her workout. After resting, the brunette looked up at the red head, who was smiling down at her. She quickly got back up, while forming a sweatdrop on her head. At least she was safe.

"So, Emma, are you okay?" the green-eyed boy asked, while smiling. She smiled unnaturally, thinking of how he knew what was happening to her without seeing it. At least she was okay now, and that man, who she will probably never see again, had other important matters besides chasing a teen girl.

"Oh, I'm fine; just warming up," she answered, before noticing the bandana around his arm. "… You're entering the tournament too?" She gulped with nervousness; she definitely didn't want to fight Aerrow in the tourney, especially when she knew he was better than her with his acrobatics. But remembering the "prize", she forgot all about that.

The sky knight answered, "Yes, I am… And there are also going to be some others in this, some of which you might considered as friends. So, maybe you can be truthful when you meet them." He rubbed his head, waiting for her reaction. It was hard to talk about a bloodline; especially one that started something that led to their world's current situation. Maybe being around the people they knew wouldn't react in a bad way might help.

Emma raised an eyebrow before darkly asking, "Did you blab out that I'm a you-know-what? … 'Cause if you did, I curse ya… Somehow." The boy quickly shook his head in response; he respected her right to blab about her secrets. He just thought that it wasn't such a big deal since most people would past it off as a myth. The two just stood there for a few moments, before one, big, lovable wallop came up and gave the girl a bone-crushing hug… Literally.

"Emma! Oh, I'm so glad that you're alright!" Junko happily exclaimed, not hearing the silent complaining of the teen human. It was when he saw that her face writhed with pain that he instantly dropped her. The others returned as well, swamping her with questions and concerns. She recognized their worried faces, except for the two lizards behind them; one female with white scales and long, black hair and the other male with black scales and short, white hair. For some reason, the two reminded her of Yin and Yang.

"Hi, I'm Emma," she said, being a little friendly in their presence. For past experience, her relationship with anything reptilian on Atmos always ended with things being worse for her. But that wasn't going to stop her from liking them; besides, everyone was different in one way or another.

"… I'm Kuroi," the black-scaled lizard said, before sniffing her. "… You smell funny." Emma just grimaced with embarrassment; she was bathing regularly. Why do they keep saying that she smells funny?

The white-haired lizard joined in the sniffing, before commenting, "Yea, you do… Funny, and yet, strangely familiar." The girl raised an eyebrow at her comment; she didn't remember meeting her before. Anyway, the Dragonkin just smiled and introduced herself, "I'm Tokage and, me and Kuroi are Dragonkin."

That's when the Gaian smiled widely, "Cool! So, you're dragons?!" She always wanted to see real-live dragons, even though everyone didn't believe they existed back on Earth. Of course, she didn't know how to act around them since many have portrayed them as either wild, dumb beasts or smart, easily-insulted creatures. Now, if only she had her camera to take a picture of this moment.

Piper shook his head and said, "No, they're a mix between Raptors and Terradons. Sorry if you got the wrong idea." That definitely crushed her enthusiastic moment; oh well, at least she still had that prize to think about.

"The tournament is about to start," the white Dragonkin said, before looking at the other fighters, "Are you ready?" They nodded back, showing their determination. She smiled, before saying, "Good, your friend and I here will go over to the ladies' locker room. You two can go over to the men's next to it." Then, she grabbed the brunette and started to drag her to the nearest locker room. The other two just headed towards another locker room, while the rest of the group headed towards the stands. Hiding behind a corner, someone had watched the group's moment, and even though his hood was up, he was grinding his teeth in disappointment.

* * *

"See you guys in the arena!" said Zack, as he went up into stands. Dawne and Lysander looked at each other and the two smiled simultaneously. Well, this was it; it was almost time to go into the arena to fight. For Dawne, she just wanted to have some fun. But for Lysander, this tournament may help with him finding who he really was.

"Well, then, I'll see you out there in the tournament," the silverette said, before leaving for the girl's locker. The man just watched her leaving figure; he had wondered why she was helping her in the first place. He knew he probably wouldn't… Or maybe he would… Damn him for having amnesia.

Anyway, he went his way towards the men's locker room. Hopefully, he'll find some others who might know who he was.

* * *

The Thunder Eagles and the two fox demons were running towards the coliseum, almost forgetting about the time. They were having so much fun exploring that they almost forgot about the tournament. But thanks to some passing warriors, they were (almost) on time before the opening ceremony. They really needed to get a watch.

"See ya, Rhia! Hope you win!" yelled Kihara, as she, Azure, Nicholas, and Osprey entered the stands at post haste. The fox and the wild cat quickly ran their separate ways for the tournament. Even though they were of different races, they had a similar goal; to fight and win the mysterious prize.

* * *

Jack and Rufus were walking inside the arena, heading towards the lockers. For Rufus, he was glad that his boss had forgotten about earlier. As for Jack, he was in deep thought about the girl. For some strange reason, she didn't seem to be one of the locals on this world. She actually looked more like someone from before the nuclear wars of Earth. Whoever she was, he wanted to know two things about her; who she was and why those pirates were after her.

Well, he had to worry about that later. Right now, he and the orange-haired man had a tournament to win.

* * *

"… The people of this terra may be strong… But with the help of my slave, I shall be the one who will win."

* * *

Author's Notes:

Okay! I have been dragging this one long enough! The tournament shall start soon! Which means peeps should stop sending me OC for fighters. Of course, this doesn't mean I won't accept late entries for the next chapter. And if you really want in, you can still put in characters in the stands.

And if you are guessing about who that person is, no, it is not a regular Storm Hawks villain. But he has some significance to the plot. You guys can guess all you want about what he has to do with it, but I'm not telling.

For thanks, I would like to thank SakariWolfe, Kitten2007, NekoNekoMinako, and Flame Soldier for the reviews. And a mega-big thanks for NekoNekoMinako for volunteering if I need any help with fight scenes. I may not now, but I'll call upon you whenever I need it.

Anyway, please Read and Review!


	5. Chapter 4: Preliminary Mess

Disclaimer: All characters, places, concepts, and ideas belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 4: Preliminary Mess_

Both Emma and Tokage were in one of the locker rooms, getting ready for the tourney. Well actually, Tokage was stretching out her legs while Emma was using this time to try to relax. Unfortunately, it wasn't helping much since she saw what she'll be facing in this contest; in fact, she wasn't sure if she would survive the brawl or not. Oh, why was this getting harder than she wanted it to be?

Anyway, the two stopped what they were doing when they heard the opening door. It soon revealed what the Dragonkin recognized to be the silver-haired girl from earlier. To the Gaian, she just gasped at how cool-looking she was, especially with her being a silverette. Now, if only she has her camera to show her parents back home that having white hair won't make her look like a granny.

Dawne looked over at the white-skinned lizard and said, "Hey again, I had a funny feeling I would be seeing you here. Did you find your friend yet?" The older female nodded before pointing over at the brunette who looked in a trance. The older human raised an eyebrow before examining her look. Then, she smiled and said, "That _is _strange clothing." Emma just sat there, laughing nervously at that comment. As long as that phrase didn't contain the words "Gaian" and "You are", she was safe.

Suddenly, the door opened again, this time, revealing the wild cat girl, Rhia. She looked pretty tired from rushing for the locker room at the last minute as she took heavy breathes. She looked around before noticing the older human and greeting, "DAWNE! I thought I would see you here!" The two hugged, before the cat girl saw the strange-smelling girl she saw earlier, staring at her with a gapping mouth. "Hey! You're that girl that got in the fight with those two guys and the Murk Raiders."

Both Tokage and Dawne looked at Emma, with the lizard saying, "You fought against the Murk Raiders?!" The Gaian laughed nervously at that question; the reptilian sounded really excited about the fight, while she was just glad she survived it. The wild cat just looked at the lizard with a raised eyebrow and smiled flakily.

"Actually…" she started, before answering, "When I got there, I saw her get beat up… But she did bite one of the men that were in the fight also." The teen paled before looking away in embarrassment; she didn't know what else to do. It was either confess her heritage and get into a worse situation, or fight and get her butt kicked.

"… Yea, I know. I'm pathetic." she grumbled while stretching her arms. "But can we talk later; the tournament might start soon." The three just stared at her with wide-eyed; they didn't say that she was pathetic. Why would she think that anyway? Tokage just blinked before thinking; was this how the skilled warrior acted?

* * *

Meanwhile, Aerrow and Kuroi were also getting ready for the tournament in the locker room they were in. The black-skinned Dragonkin was practicing his moves with his spear while the Storm Hawks' leader was just stretching his arms. He occasionally looked over at the reptile, seeing how he was fairing. It was pretty quiet since they didn't have anything to talk about. Of course, that was going to change pretty soon.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY, FOX BOY!!!"

"EAT LIGHTNING, HUMAN!"

The two quickly looked at the door to see both a black-eyed Vireo and a very smoking (literally) Rufus bursting through door and falling onto the ground. The two wrestled with each other, even when Jack entered the room. He looked straight down on them with a sweatdrop on his head. Why is it so easy for Rufus to get into fights?

Then, the black-haired man looked over at the Dragonkin and boy, and greeted them, "Hello again, Aerrow. Who's this young… person?" He didn't know what to say in order to not offend him. As for Kuroi, he felt a little bit insulted of what he was trying to avoid.

The red head saw this and decided to introduced them, "Kuroi, this is Jack of the Peacekeeping Federation of Earth." Then hearing the grunts, he pointed to orange-haired man and said, "And that's Rufus, also from Earth."

The white-haired lizard raised an eyebrow and asked, "So… This guy," he pointed at Jack, "And that guy," then he pointed Rufus, "Are Gaians?" After a few seconds, it sunk it, and the Dragonkin male looked over at Black and bowed. "I will be honor to fight either of you two in this tournament."

"Wait, wait," the fox demon said, once he and the human stopped fighting. "So, these two smelly humans are Gaians?!" He quickly looked at the orange-haired man, before the realization sank in also. "… For two barbaric Gaians, you seem to look a lot like the Atmosian humans."

Rufus looked insulted before lifting Vireo off of him. "Hold on there! First off, why the hell did you call us smelly?!" Only Kuroi knew the answer to that one, but didn't say anything about it. "Secondly, what's a Gaian?" The black-haired man wondered about that also, but he guessed it had something to do with people from Earth.

Aerrow laughed nervously before saying, "Gaians are what we call people from Gaia, also known as Earth to you guys… It's a really, _really_ ancient myth that… Maybe a friend of mine would explain it to you guys later." He was thinking that maybe Emma would explain better since she heard the whole thing. Of course, it raised a pretty big risk of her being discovered as being a Gaian also. But she shouldn't worry about that; in fact, maybe her being around her own kind might help after all.

* * *

Inside one of the locker rooms, where it was dark and creepy, the hooded man sat on one of the benches, growling in frustration. Out of all the people here, there was one that he didn't want to see. Now, there was a slight chance that their plan would not succeed. If only the plan had fast-forward to the part where it succeeded, then he wouldn't have to deal with this.

"Well, well, well, it looks like the great commander has run into a little snag," a female voice said, as the man turned to see a woman standing there. She was built beautifully, with tanned skin and six-packed, very athletic body. Her eyes were dark grey, while her hair was black with a bluish shine. She wore grey-armored uniform with a utility belt that held her weapons. She smirked before walking over to the man, speaking, "If you look so surprise, it's because our Master has told me to enter also in case you fail in the first round."

The man smiled cockily before asking, "Did you use your real name, Vareel?" The woman nodded, causing him to smile; at least one good thing was going his way. "Good, now, there are going to three others of your kind here. Be careful around them."

"You mean the girl civilian and those two soldiers?" she asked, causing her to smile evilly. "I read their files. The only person I'm worried about is that Jack guy, since I read his files back on Earth when I was last there." She had heard all about the elusive Jack Blade when she was with Jeremy's Spec Ops. Seeing him in action would be a lot better since she heard a rumor that he was a vampire.

The man smiled, before commanding her, "Don't think of killing them. In fact, don't kill anyone in this tournament yet. The last thing our plan needs is to start before it actually begins." The woman smiled a twisted smile at him; this didn't give him any reassurance.

"Oh, I don't plan on killing anyone yet… If anyone "supposedly" fights me, they will just "disappear"." she spoke, quickly following it with a maniacal laugh. The hooded figure just sweatdropped at this; there goes the invasion plan.

* * *

The stadium was packed with spectators, beating each other up just to get the best seat. This tournament was really a big deal to the people of Colussmis as most of them struggled to keep their seats. As for those who weren't part of this custom, they tried to not get involved; one example, the Storm Hawks.

They were definitely glad they weren't in the brawl. It was so brutal; Piper thought she felt teeth hit the back of her head. Oh well, at least they were trying to remain out of it.

Anyway, the wallop was in deep thought, before expressing it, "Since Aerrow and Emma are in the tournament, who are we cheering for?" Well, that wasn't a no-brainer. The rest of them came up with the answer within nano-seconds.

"Easy, Junko, we cheer for both of them," said Finn, as cool as ever. The strongman nodded happily before thinking again. It was a minute later that his confused look came back.

"But what if Aerrow and Emma fight against each other?" he asked again. Now, that _was_ a good question; they knew the Gaian needed all the support she could get, but Aerrow was their life-long friend. So, should they cheer for their new companion or the one they knew for years?

The merb already made up his mind and said, "Well, I'm going to cheer for Aerrow. I still don't like the Gaian." This caused the group to glare; he may have hated her, but she was still their friend. They did this for an hour until the trumpets blared, causing all the spectators to turn to the stadium.

The crowd cheered as the fighters entered the stadium floor. The major of them were from Colussmis, but the others were from different terras, different races, and in some cases, another world. Some of them waved while others walked diligently to the center of the arena. The fighters then stopped and waited for the next part of tournament.

Lysander, being one of those fighters, blinked and looked around him. He was wondering how he got out on the field quickly? He didn't even remember going into the locker room at the time. Then, he felt dread when he realized whatever he had might have been affecting his memory. Oh, he really hoped that whatever he had wasn't a terrible affliction.

Anyway, the trumpets blared again as the leader of Terra Colussmis entered the stadium. He was an old man, with a big, white, bushy bread that covered his front part of his body. He wore a brown cloak and a bandana to cover his head. The people who had recently came to this terra was thinking how this man came to be leader; but if most people remember one of the rules of fighting, it was to never judge a person's strength on looks.

"People of Terra Colussmis! Today, we begin our most precious event, our fighting tournament!" The people jeered greatly when their leader announced it. "Now, we have made some changes since we were discovered by the people of the outside Atmos and today, we are glad to have these fine warriors from different parts of this world! Many of you have come for the prize, some for the glory of the arena, and the rest to prove your worth!

"But before you fight in this coliseum, a few of you must go through the forest that has re-grow since our last attempt of cultivating this terra! For the past weeks, in order to set the preliminary, we let the monsters of this terra reproduce. Now, you, as fighters, must face them for the first half! You will gain points for the monster, depending on their type's strength! Then the points shall be divided among how many fighters were able to take it down!

"The next half shall consist of fighter versus fighter! It will be a one-on-one with only your own strength to survive! You may go past this part, but you must have to eliminate one member from the contest to go one! To eliminate, you must rob the fighter of its stamina and then take off his or her bandana, or have your opponent surrender! If you want to surrender, take off your bandana during an official match. But the only thing you can get out of this cowardly act is shame on your name.

"This preliminary will not only be based on strength but on speed as well! You will have two and a half hours to make it to the ruins _on foot_! It will be about half and half on the time limit for the event! Those who make it and have the highest points shall fight in our most historic structure!" Once taking a breather, he looked out at the crowd and said, "The starting point shall be outside the forest! Now, let your burning will help you to glory!" Both crowd and fighters cheered as the leader left. Then, the competitors started to leave, in a hurry to make it to the starting point. It wasn't before long that crowd left as well. Once everyone was gone, only two figures were left in the stands.

One, a young looking male, wearing dark, gothic suit and with his gelled, black hair, smiled evilly and said, "Well, well, this is getting interesting. Don't you agree, Victoria?" The other one, a female with waist-length, black hair and grey-blue eyes just looked down. She didn't want to be here; she was just hoping that this was a bad dream and that she'll wake up back home. The man just smirked and stated, "The Cyclonians would be very glad if we see who would make it to the finals…"

* * *

Outside the edge of the forest, where a banner hung high above the ground, both the crowds and fighters were struggling against one another. For fighters, it was to be first in line; and for the spectators, it was to see the start of the event. Out of all the people, Emma was the one who tried her best not to get caught up in it; it would be a waste of energy that was needed for the monsters and the other competitors.

Suddenly, the Gaian felt someone run into her, and she looked up and yelped. The pale man looked down at her and raised an eyebrow. "Is there something wrong?" he asked, a little bit confused. The girl only just stared with fear. Why was fate torturing her?

As much as she wanted to make the assumption that somehow an old "friend" decided to entered, she asked him, "Nothing… But is your name Harrier?" The man shook his head. "… Are you his brother?" He shook his head again. "His cousin?" He shook again. After some time thinking, the girl then asked, "… Are you related to Harrier in any way possible?" The man just shook his head; he didn't even know who she was talking about. After that inquisition, she smiled and said, "Oh, nevermind then." Lysander raised an eyebrow at this; what a strange girl.

Meanwhile, Aerrow was still confused about the preliminary. It seemed simple enough to do, but he wasn't sure about its competitiveness. Some of the local fighters looked very extreme that this tournament may have not been as safe as it said to be. Oh, he hoped he and his friends were safe during the contest.

"AERROW!!!" the red head peeked out of the crowd to see his friends on the sidelines. He saw Piper waved to him as both Finn and Junko hanged a banner that said, "Go Aerrow! And don't blow it!". He knew his wingman wrote the last part because of what happen after he won the Saharr race. Maybe the blonde made a bet that he was going to regret if he went heroic again.

"Fighters! Take your position!" a voice called, as all the competitors ready themselves to race. Several seconds later, the current MC yelled out, "Ready… Set… GO!!!" Once that was yelled, every competitor started to run into the forest, the locals gaining ahead of the outsiders with immersed speed. Stork, quickly taking out his Peepers, climbed onto the nearest pole and started to watch the brawl/race. He wanted to see what horrors awaited the fighters.

A few seconds later, the merb called out, "They're getting close to some Slime monsters!" Next, he secretly said, "And if they are lucky, they're probably made of acid." The specialist quickly grabbed the point guide that was handed out to the fighters and began to look for what the pilot had said. She found what she was looking for a minute later.

"Slimers: the weakest monster on this terra. About 1 point for each monster destroy." she explained, before closing the book then smiling, "Definitely, a good start for our sky knight!" That gave the guys hope. Stork looked out at the race again and saw the fighters cut down the little slimes down to size. They continued to run up ahead, all except for one.

"Guys…" he said, "Emma's not catching up ahead." That completely shock everyone; they thought that their friend would have been a little smarter than to just stay behind and let the heavy hitters get ahead.

"Maybe she's having trouble with them?" Junko questioned, trying to make sense of the situation. It seemed plausible that if more are gaining up on her, she would have a problem. But the look on the helmsman's face told otherwise.

"She's defeating them with one kick while their back is turn," he stated, before theorizing, "Knowing her, she is probably getting enough points from the slimes so she would avoid the other monsters up ahead." That caused the team to sigh; for someone who has faced the greatest foes in Atmos, she seemed to go for not pushing her limits. Oh well, maybe she'll have a challenge when the fighter vs. fighter part comes up.

* * *

The rest of the fighters were now battling against the tougher monsters of forest. Flesh-crazed beasts, horrifying living-trees and plants, even some flying, one-eyed creatures were getting destroyed by the brawlers. Some of the contestants even lost count of how many points they were ranking up. Things were looking great, especially for Rhia, as she was about to deal the first blow to a wood imp.

The cat girl was about to raise her broadsword for an attack until a lightning whip stuck the imp, causing it to dissipate. The wild cat looked shock before seeing Vireo skipped up ahead of her while smiling evilly. She just stood there in anger before yelling, "KILL STEALER!!!"

"All's fair in love and war, and if you forgot, this is war," the fox demon said, as he went ahead and used his demon magic to create a top at a monster-eating plant. The sky knight growled before kicking a monster tree down and killing it with her sword. Then, she started to chase after him, hoping to get even by stealing one of his kills.

Dawne watched the whole thing, before sighing. It was funny how the two were taking the competition. Luckily, she wouldn't have to show her powers in this fight. Probably the majority of people here didn't know what ATLABS was, or of Project KIRA. But it was best that she limited her strength, just enough so that she could beat these people and win, or at least, lose trying. The silverette instantly kicked an oncoming berserker and smirked at the thought of winning.

Both Kuroi and Tokage were back-to-back, being surrounded by a lot of monsters. They were fighting separately until the creatures gained up on them had the two Dragonkin surrounded. Even though there was no chance of escape, they didn't care. The white-scaled lizard just smiled and said, "Well, Kuroi, I guess we'll have more points than the others after this."

"I guess so, Tokage, but just remember; if we fight each other if the arena, I won't go easy on you." The male replied, as he lunged himself at the monster. The other reptilian just smiled; she wouldn't have it any other way.

Aerrow was fighting against some horned goblins, trying to make it ruins. He didn't realized how hard it was to get to them, especially on foot. If he had his skimmer, then he could speed right through this. Of course, the root system from the trees made difficult for a smooth ride. Now, he knew how the locals of terra Colussmis felt without the modern-day skimmers.

"You better catch up, sky knight!" the red head heard a familiar voice taunted, before swinging an energy blast at the goblins, KOing them. Then, he started to look around for where the source came from. It couldn't be; he didn't notice any other Cyclonians here. Maybe it was just his imagination playing tricks.

The sky knight started to look around to see who else was up ahead. All he saw was the two Dragonkin, Dawne, Rhia, someone who looks _a lot_ like Harrier, and the other ones. But he could tell that there were some people missing. So, the question of the day was where were Emma, Jack, and Rufus?

* * *

Rufus immediately punched a blood-crazed, giant spider before it kicking it into submission. Jack just watched with a calmed expression; he was trying his best not to get involved in the orange-haired man's fights or else they'll each have half of points from the monsters destroyed… You know, that probably wasn't a bad idea, but if they wanted to get to the top, they needed to go separately for more points. Besides, these monsters were easy to them.

Several minutes later, the two came across a sign that pointed to path that didn't look like a good path at all. The sign said in perfect yet sloppy English, "If you're from Earth, take this shortcut". A sign written in English pointing to a creepy-looking path, that didn't seem suspicious.

"Hey, sweet! A shortcut!" said Rufus, as he was about to head that way until Jack stopped him. The black-haired Earthling just glared at his friend with seriousness. He felt doubtful about the trail. "Hey! What was that for?"

"Just watch…" the half vampire answered, before grabbing a stick and poking it at a random place. Pretty soon, a snare trap caught the twig and it flung itself into the air. The regular man just stood there in shock. "… An enemy of ours must have set this trap and probably more if we take this path. I think we should go and found out who it is." He had a feeling that it was one of his enemies, Hawk; but he even knew that the same man who turned him into a genetically vampire wouldn't go for some an outdated trap.

"Okay… How 'bout you lead then?" Rufus asked, not feeling okay about this whole thing. If this was really Hawk's plan, then he wanted stay out of Jack's way. The two had some static between them in the past; the only difference now was if Hawk and Jack fought here, there would be a lot more at stake than just some prize.

* * *

Vareel stood in a small clearing, smirking evilly. She had taken that "suspicious" path, but she didn't get caught in all the traps. In fact, she avoided them so if any other idiot took it, they would be caught in those and be delayed. But her mind was thinking about delaying the fools longer with something else besides a home-made pothole.

The bluish-haired woman took out a crystal that she had hidden on her persons. It was an Elemental Stone, a little gift from Master Cyclonis that could turn any element in nature into a living being, depending on its power. It was perfect for these idiots on Colussmis but she needed to do this perfectly so that it wouldn't seem like it was sabotage or anything. After all, everyone still thinks that this was just a friendly game.

She carefully dropped the stone before walking away, not watching the effects taking place. As much as she would like to see her work, Vareel still needed to get some more points to make it to arena. Besides, she didn't want to be around when the creature took a look at its first victim.

A few miles back from the spot, Jack and Rufus were having a friendly debate over who was after them. At first, the main thought was Hawk, but after setting off a few more of those traps, it seemed that someone else was after them. It was probably someone with little ingenuity. Of course, the black-haired man didn't want to admit it too easily.

"It's got to be Hawk," the man concluded, "I mean think about it, who else knows that were from Earth?" There was only a handful of people knew about their world. And most of them were the good guys, probably.

"Well," Rufus started, before listing, "The Storm Hawks, Starling, maybe even the Cyclonians." Of course, neither of any of them knew how to write in English, which was stranger still. Of course, the two completely forgot about it when the orange-haired man stopped and said, "Jack…" The half vampire stopped and looked up also.

In front of them was a giant walking forest; its outside was made of dirt and mud while the trees on its back had their roots make up the skeleton of the monster. Its green-glowing eyes blinked before looking down at the two Gaians. Simultaneously, the two said what they were thinking,

"Oh crap."

* * *

Author's notes:

Chapter 4 done! Has some development, new characters, and some interesting motives appear.

For a note, this hooded figure and the person who said the last line in the last chapter are not the same people. There is a difference between the two, one that I'm going to stat that one is fighting and the other is using a patsy for the tournament. Also, someone might recognize hooded figure, but don't say anything. Not unless an angry mob comes after me with torches and pitchsporks.

Next, I'm going to say that I do not own the bases that the monsters were from. Some of them came from the monster from video games; mostly World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy series, and the Tales of series.

Now, I'm going to write make a list of the current characters in this. This means no one can enter anymore fighters, but they can still enter some people in the crowd. I'll keep it updated as much as possible.

Anyway, here's the list:

_SakariWolfe_:  
Fighters: Vireo  
Stands: Osprey

_The Flame Soldier_:  
Fighters: Lysander

_Hawk Masters_:  
Fighters: Jack, Rufus

_Kitten2007_:  
Fighters: Tokage, Kuroi  
Stands: Victoria, The mystery guy next to her

_NekoNekoMinako_:  
Fighters: Rhia, Dawne  
Stands: Azure, Kihara, Nicholas, Zack(who is partially based off the Zack from the FF7 series)

_azdx_:  
Fighters: Vareel

Well, there you go. And I would like to thank them for reviewing this story and to not hurt me if I made a mistake with your characters. And I would like to give a special thanks to theKageTenshi for her help with some of the story line. Here's a special cookie to you!

Now, if you excuse me, I'm off to find a Leprechaun to get some gold! Heh he!

Please Read and Review!


	6. Chapter 5: Sabotage Afoot

Disclaimer: All characters, places, ideas, and concepts belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 5: Sabotage Afoot_

Jack and Rufus stared up with amazement, while the monster stared down at them. They were scared, with good reason. A being made out of mud would be difficult to defeat since it would be able to regenerate its damage. In their minds, it would have been best to ignore it, but if this monster was left unchecked, it could probably head for the village to destroy it. Besides, based on its size, it could give out some major points if defeated.

The elemental giant blinked at the two before staring at the Earthling with the bright-orange hair. Now, it was common knowledge that there were certain animals that reacted to certain things. One of the most known were birds reacting to shiny objects. Now, if the monster was the bird and Rufus was the shiny object, the creature just extended its arm and wrapped around the human's body. He looked very scared at this.

"Hey, Jack, do you have a plan to get rid of that thing?" he asked, a little scared. The half vampire just stared at the man with a neutral face. As much as he would like to fight this creature, he didn't have his guns on him now; the fact that Atmos was still using crossbows made him uneasy about showing this world the effectiveness of Earth guns.

He just shrugged and said, "Sorry, Rufus, but I don't think it can be beaten on raw, Vampire strength." The other man just paled as white as a sheet. That was his reason; his leader couldn't do it because this thing looked so much stronger than the two combined. That was total garbage!

Rufus was about to complain, but was stopped when the forest monster picked him up and started to shake him. The black-haired man just watched in silent amusement. Of course, he knew it wasn't funny, but what else could he do. At least the monster was busy so he wouldn't go after the village.

* * *

A roar was heard as Aerrow turned his head to only gasp. He couldn't believe what he was seeing; there was giant monster that looked like a walking forest. He didn't even know that those things even existed; well, there was the living tar monster in the Black Gorge. Still, it was a little bit strange for it to appear out all of a sudden. Unfortunately, the remaining people of Terra Colussmis didn't care for detail.

"GET IT!!!!" someone yelled, as they started to charge at the thing. Those who didn't follow the herd just stared at them with wide-eyes. In their minds, they were thinking how crazy these people were. Lysander, who was a little wearied from fighting the monsters, just stared at the retreating mob.

"Are these people insane?!" he questioned himself, "Do they know what danger they are in?" But in the midst of it all, he felt some familiarity to this whole fiasco. It seemed like a dream, where he and a group did all these heroics to protect the people. But it was just a fantasy, right?

He just shrugged it off and started to head in the direction of the ruins. He knew he was getting tired and the blond man still needed that one battle against another contestant to enter into the finals. He didn't know why, but he felt like he needed to still be in this tournament. Maybe by then, he'll have some sense of who he was. Oh, he just hoped he didn't need to fight that nice woman he met earlier.

* * *

Emma was running through the woods, hurrying to get to the ruins. She already wasted enough time with the Slimers, and she really needed to find a good opponent for her to fight so she wouldn't get her butt kicked. Sure, she could have fought the other monster to gain really high points, but there was a very extreme chance that she was going to get KOed by one of them. Besides, she was already taking a shortcut that was cleared of any dangers. That bowl of ramen was definitely in her grasp now.

Suddenly, the brunette's happiness turned to shock when she saw a really big creature made out of plants and dirt. It was beating pounding its fist onto someone who looked like the same guy that wanted a beer. And if he was here, than that other guy was probably here too. Her premonition was right, as she found the black-haired man staring at the confrontation with neutral emotions. She couldn't blame him; that thing can definitely squish them like bugs.

After a few minutes of watching it, the teen thought she saw something that didn't fit it on its chest. She started to angle her head to get it right until she saw something flashed right on its chest. Was it a weak spot? Probably not, but it was still worth exploring anyway. She looked up at the orange-haired man and yelled, "Hey! If you ever get out of that, you might want to check his chest for a weak spot!"

Rufus may not have heard that, but Jack did. He angled his head to see that glare; a crystal, a very small, glowing crystal was controlling that thing, giving it life. So, if removed, the giant, living dirt pile would probably go back to being just a dirt pile. The man smirked; he had an idea on how to defeat this thing.

"Rufus, kid! Distract this thing! I'll try to get that crystal!" the vampire commanded before heading for the creature. Emma raised an eyebrow at what he said; she spotted the crystal and she gets to be the bait? Do the higher beings like messing with her? Anyway, she ran from behind the creature and started to try to get his attention by pulling on the roots sticking out of its body. The orange-haired man struggle one of his arms free and then started to punch at the dirt skin. That definitely got its attention

While the creature was being distracted by their antics, the black-haired man was climbing up the thing, just so he could get to the crystal. What made it hard was the fact that the giant was trying keep track on who's hurting him the most, while trying to stomp on a moving target. Thankfully, having vampire genes in his DNA helped him keep on. Once reaching the spot where the glare was coming from, he grabbed onto the crystal and using his strength, pulled it out of the creature's chest. Then, the man jumped off and ran away before it started to break down.

The teen noticed the monster's body decaying before running away. The dirt started to fall back to the ground, along with the trees and plants that held it together. A few minutes later, it was back to its old, inanimate self. Afterwards, Rufus popped out of the mess, angrily yelling, "Thanks a lot! You could have at least grabbed me before that thing fell apart!"

"Heh, if you want to blame someone, she's the one who spotted this," Jack answered, before holding up the stone. The girl just stood there and gulped; oh great, now she's the scapegoat for his plan. That's when the soldier raised an eyebrow before asking her, "In fact…What is she doing in a place like this?" Now, she _could_ tell them the truth and say that she followed a sign, but she just smiled before running off again. The two men started to chase after her with post haste. For someone who was mysterious, she sure had a funny way of avoiding silly questions.

* * *

The crowd had seen the monster and was just as shock and enthusiastic to see it on their terra, especially since it was the start of the tournament. While some wanted to view and take part in the action, Stork was seeing it first hand and reporting the action to his fellow teammates. They were ecstatic to hear that their friends took down that thing, but the group got worried when the merb reported that Emma was running away from Jack and Rufus. It seemed the brunette didn't like to be a people-person much.

"Even though he's partially a vampire, I doubt that Jack is that scary looking to Emma," Piper commented, trying to get a reasonable explanation from the whole situation. Of course, the other girl did tell everyone that she wasn't scared of anything; so there had to be something else going on. But before someone could come up with any other theory, someone else approached the group.

"Vat do I hear about Jack scaring someone?" questioned a German-accented voice, as the Storm Hawks turned to see a man in his late 40's behind them. He was a brunette, with a right, blue eye because his left one had an eye patch over it. He wore an outfit that looked like it belonged in a World War II museum, but it was in perfect condition than how clothes usually decay. His left hand looked burn while his right had only a pinky and ring finger missing. The squadron quickly recognized him to be Eric Von Stauffenburg; a high-ranking man and a friend of Jack's.

"We don't know," answered the specialist answered, "We just know that one of our friends is running away from both Jack and Rufus." The man huffed before walking over to Stork and snatching the Peepers from him; he didn't care much for the non-humans and crystal technology, even if it was natural in this world. He took a look through them, spotting the vampire and soldier running after a teen girl with brown hair. He found it strange that the teen was wearing clothes that he hadn't seen in at least twelve years. Well, at least something tasteful from Earth was catching on in this world.

"Hmph, I know Jack, and I know he doesn't chase after little girls unless there vas a reason," he said, before looking that the young teens, "Do you know anything dat might give dat reason?" The two humans and wallop shook their heads innocently; hiding the fact that they did know Emma was from Earth. The colonel leered, before having the Peepers snatched back by Stork; he wanted to see what the other contestants were doing.

Looking in various directions, he started to give out comments about the battles. "… Aerrow had made it too the next half, still alive… Tokage is fighting against one of the barbarians here with Kuroi watching… Dawne has a line of those who want to fight her… A Harrier-look alike is trying his best not to harm one of the local women… And it seems Rhia is chasing after a fox demon with blonde-red hair."

"WHAT?!!!!" yelled an angry voice, as the group paled at the sound of speedy footsteps. Suddenly, a brunette fox girl appeared, snatched the Peepers and stared at the direction at what the pilot said. She growled with frustration; how dare her fiancé get chased by that Wild Cat sky knight?! As she gritted her teeth with frustration, the binoculars she was looking through were snatched back by the one-eyed man.

"You are supposed to say please, you oversized puffball," the man said, causing the demon to frizz up. How dare he insult her like that? If Vireo were to hear that said about her, he would have given this man a piece of his mind. After all, she was a fox demon.

"Oversized puffball?! I'm a demon, you stupid, smelly human!" the brunette fox yelled back, and it wasn't before long before the two got into a verbal fight. The other watched with wide-eyes as the merb let out tears of sadness; it looked like he wasn't going to get his Peepers back.

Finn looked over at the merb and asked, "Stork, do you have any more of those Peepers?" He really wanted to see the fighting out in the forest instead of watching two stubborn people argue. The pilot looked at him with an irritated look; his eye twitched with annoyance.

"No, Emma broke the other pair, remember?" he answered, making everyone remember that moment. It was a quiet day; the Gaian was hiding and watching the guys through the other set of Peepers. She was fiddling with the controls, until Piper surprised her from behind, causing her to drop and break it. When anyone asked what she was doing, she just denied the situation. Oh well, at least they still watch the fight happening in front of them.

Meanwhile, Zack watched Dawne's battle through his own set of binoculars. He sighed; it was amazing how many men were after her just for her looks. For him, he just liked Dawne as a friend… Or maybe there was much more to their relationship. Well, he hoped that she will win every one of her matches; these guys really needed to be schooled.

* * *

Dawne punched another man out, before dodging a swinging axe. Dang, why does she always get into a fight after fight? These people didn't even know that she was KIRA and they still wanted to defeat her. Were they just stupid or was she cursed to fight for her life?

"Hey, boys!" yelled a feminine voice as the line turn to look at the source. There, they group saw a woman with a very muscular body and wearing gray armored-uniform. She leaned forward, giving a very cute smile and said, "Why not fight with little old me instead of her?" The men instantly gone insanely crazy with love as they quickly started to charge after her. The woman smirked before knocking each one down, one after another.

The silverette smiled before saying, "Thank you, miss." She was really glad to have taken a break from that; she really needed to make it to the ruins to rest now.

"No problem," the older woman said, before elbowing a man in the gut. "Besides, I really needed," she grabbed a man's arm and threw him over her shoulder, "the battles." Then, she looked over at the other female and introduced, "Anyway, my name is Vezeel."

"Vezeel…" Dawne muttered under her breath. It wasn't that much of a strange name, but she felt that there was something strange about this woman. Maybe it was just her mind playing tricks on her. Anyway, she started to make a mad dash to the ruins, hoping not to run into any more battles along the way. Meanwhile, the other woman smirked evilly; her plan had worked.

* * *

Tokage and Kuroi continued to walk for the ruins, waiting for any others to attack either of the two. Tokage got her fight to be in the finals, but Kuroi still needed his to enter. He watched from the white-skinned Dragonkin's fight how strong she had gotten since they last met. Now, it was his turn to show her his strength.

"Stop right there!" yelled a voice, as the two stopped. Suddenly, a very muscular man stepped out from one of the trees. He was shirtless; his chest showing many of battle scars. "My name is Siege, the tournament champion from the two years before! You two shall be my next trophies!" Tokage was about to attack, but Kuroi stopped her. He stepped out in front of the man with spear in hand.

"I shall fight you, Siege!" the white-haired lizard said, charging at the man with intended speed. The man raised his hammer, before smashing it at where the male lizard should have been. But he dodged and swung his spear at his opponent. The human blocked it with his arm before repelling the spear and swinging his hammer again. Kuroi dodged again, but it only an inch away from his tail.

The other Dragonkin watched with amazement in her eyes; her friend had gotten a lot stronger. This was good since she may have to fight him in the tournament at some time. But for now, they were friends until that time comes and they were going to give it everything they got then. Suddenly, she watched as her friend strike at the former champion at a fast pace. Then, he jumped into the air, raising his spear up and next, he slammed the weapon down with all his might. The human was so dazed that he fainted in front of him.

After taking off his bandanna, the black-scaled lizard looked over at childhood friend and smiled. She smiled back, before looking up at the sky with a serious glare. The other looked up also, seeing a small bat flying around above them. They couldn't help it, but the two got that feeling that the bat wasn't an ordinary bat. After a while, the two immediately went back to heading towards the ruins; they still had a course to finish.

* * *

Scabulous hid behind a tree, waiting for a certain someone to appear. He knew this wasn't a safe proof plan if he did say so himself; his crew had put up the sign and laid all the traps to catch her. But if said-person was really lucky enough to avoid all of them, he had to go with the other mention to capture something; a few shots with some Paralyzer and Sleeper bullets in his trusted pistol.

The captain finally smiled, seeing the Gaian girl that he and his crew chased a few weeks back. Slowly and carefully, he reached for his gun inside his vest, trying to not make any noise that could ruin this perfect shot. But before he could even pull out his pistol, something strange and downright annoying happen.

"DOOD!!!!!!"

Emma jumped up, before seeing four penguin-like creatures, only with pegged-legs jumped out from nowhere. One was red, another was blue, the third one was green, and the last one was of yellow. They were in poses that kind-of reminded her of the Power Rangers back home, or at least a parody of them. They also wore bandanas on their arms, showing that they were fighters in this tournament. Anyway, the red one pointed one of its small daggers at her and yelled, "We are the Prinny Prism Rangers, Dood! And we are here to challenge you!" The teen was at a loss for words on this scene. The Murk Raider just sighed; damn them for ruining his perfect moment.

After several seconds, the girl shook her head and said, "Hold up; first, why are you call the Prinny Prism Rangers if there are only four of you? Secondly, do the rules say that the fights between contestants need to be one-on-one?" The so-called Prinnies went into shock after hearing about that; it looked like they had forgotten about the rules.

"We know we have four members, Dood! Some of us got beaten in the first half, Dood!" the red Prinny answered, causing the other two to cry tears of sorrow for their fallen comrades. "Anyway, we are fighting one-on-one; I'm first, Blue' second, Green's third, and Yellow's last." The girl grimaced; she could take on these freaks, but she felt she didn't have enough time to take them all on. Oh well, at least she had a good run while it lasted.

"HOLD ON!!!" yelled a very familiar voice, as the fighters turned to see Scabulous walking out from behind the trees. "You messed up my perfect chance. Now, you have to face me along with her." Emma gulped at him saying that; she knew she was going to regret this sooner or later.

Then, another familiar voice called out and said, "Can you save us some?" The two quickly turn around to see Jack and Rufus behind them. "We really need to eliminate one of these guys in order to make it to the finals, and I rather let it be these clowns." The girl grimaced while the Prinnies looked insulted.

"Dood! How dare you call us clowns?!" the red Prinny said, pointing his dagger up into the air. "We shall fight each and everyone for we're invincible!" The Prinnies did a pose, before the yellow Prinny started to ponder.

After a second he said, "Wait… What about our secret weakness?" The Prinnies started to panic before going into a huddle. Luckily, their opponents haven't heard them.

"Dood! You can't say that!" The red Prinny said, "Now, they think they can beat us." But afterwards, he went cheerful and said, "Luckily, you didn't say that our weakness is that we explode if they throw us." Unfortunately, he didn't notice the evil-looking fighters looking over them.

"So… If we throw you guys, you can die instantly, right?" asked Rufus, causing the PPR to sweatdrop. Soon, after wrestling with the peg leg penguins, the four bigger fighters lifted them over their heads as they struggled. Next, they simultaneously threw the Prinnies, causing them to collide and explode into a firework-like display.

As the four watched the show, the vampire said, "Reminds me of my days in Nam…" The girl raised an eyebrow in confusion; she remembered that Nam was a short, slang way of saying the Vietnam War. But maybe he was saying something else.

Now, remembering that they still didn't like each other, the Gaian guys glared at the pirate, who glared back. The teen just sweat-dropped at this, before saying, "Wait, I don't think there's enough time to fight. So, can we at least call it a truce so I won't be in the middle of it?" The three looked at her, raising an eyebrow at her suggestion. They couldn't help it, but she was right; they still needed to find the ruins.

"Fine, lassie," Scabulous said before leaning forward at Emma, "But this means you have to come by my ship later." The teen smiled silly, before running away into the woods. The pirate smiled evilly, before running towards where the ruins were at. The two men were just into confusion at what happen; they'll never understand the current situation in this world.

* * *

Rhia chased after Vireo, knocking down anyone who got in her way. She still wanted to get back at him for stealing her kill and didn't care if she knock-out the local competition or not. It seemed the fox demon had the same plans as her; knock out the on-coming opponents just to get to the ruins. Several minutes and a few knock-outs late, the two finally made it to the ruins, at least before anyone else couldn't make it. The wild cat growled in frustration at this; she really wanted to defeat him.

"Well, since we're like thirty minutes ahead of schedule, we might as well chat about ourselves," the blond fox said, while stretching his arm on the rock, "So, it must be great, being a sky knight and all - fighting the Cyclonians, doing justice in the world." The cat girl growled at the last statement; he sounded like she hated the "doing justice" part.

"Well, you really don't have to be a sky knight to fight Cyclonians, even though it helps to have that training," she commented to the man, "I know of a lot of people who fight them, even if they are not with sky knights. One of them, a girl by the name of Dawne, fights against them for her freedom of being a living being."

Vireo scoffed, crossing his arms and said, "Better Cyclonians than anything that your race can't understand. Some of my race don't mess around in mortal affairs anymore, thank the Sylph for that." Then, he turned serious as he looked at Rhia, "There are things that mortals aren't meant to comprehend yet, and I rather not have them come into this world or any other." The wild cat wasn't scared; like Dawne, she didn't believe in any myths, no matter how believable they sounded.

During now and the ending of the preliminaries, more fighters started to make it to the ruins. First, it was a man wearing a hooded cloak. Then, it was Aerrow and a blond man that had a striking resemblance to Harrier, along with the two Dragonkin. Dawne arrived next before a really blue-haired woman who looked older than her. Afterwards, three, big fighters, definitely the locals of this terra, arrived intact. And then, those who arrived were Scabulous the Murk Raider, Jack, and Rufus, the two humans after the pirate. It seemed to be about everyone, but before the last minute had ended, Emma had arrived, tired from running around all over the woods. Damn these people for living like this.

The red head sky knight looked over at Emma and asked, "Hey, are you okay?"The brunette looked over at him and smiled, showing that she was okay. That was good; it seemed she got a pretty good workout. Now all the people needed to do was to wait until they get a message from an official for the tournament, depending on how it will get here.

"Congratulations, fighters!" a voice called out, causing many people to jump, "I see you have made it to the ruins on time!" The voice definitely it to the leader of this terra and it was coming from a bird with a small loudspeaker attached to its leg. "We have seen many of your battles, even though not entirely. And since we have a proper number for even fights, all of you shall enter the finals!" The group cheered, excited that they all made it to the finals. "Now, I will read the scores of those who have made it to the finals:

"Aerrow: 540 points." The red head smiled at his score.

"Ecakrad: 539 points." The hooded man growled, annoyed that he was down from one point from Aerrow.

"Dawne Eagleheart: 523 points." The silverette smirked, showing that it didn't prove anything suspicious.

"Vezeel: 514 points." Vezeel was just glad she was in the top four; nothing less from a trained guerilla fighter.

"Rhiannon Moonbeam: 512 points, Vireo: 511 points." Rhia smirked at her score - that satisfied the fact that he stole her kill.

"Kuroi: 493 points, Tokage: 485 points." The two Dragonkin were glad with their scores.

"The three Roc brothers - Corre: 480 points, Hiero: 478 points, Demage: 473 points." The three big men high-fived each other with pride.

"Jack Blade: 402 points, Rufus Dwight MacArthur: 399 points." The black-haired man raised an eyebrow at this; weren't their points a bit lower than that?

"Lysander: 395 points." The blond, pale man just stood there in seriousness; he wasn't trying to get that many points. He just needed to be in the finals.

"Scabulous: 354 points." The pirate raised an eyebrow; he was second to last. Now, all that was left was Emma, who was very nervous about her score. She thought she didn't do that much. But what was said next really shocked her.

"Emma: 220 points." The Gaian was really shock at this; those slimes must have been really high. But that theory was wrong when the loudspeaker said, "Jack, Rufus, and Emma; we have seen you three fight that terrifying giant and thus, we reward you two hundred points each." The three Earthlings gasped at what was said, glad that they were rewarded for beating that thing. The girl, however, was excited that she was closer to the prize than ever.

"Yes! Soon, I shall have ramen!" she shouted, feeling energetic at the moment. Aerrow sweatdropped at what she said; maybe he should say something before she gets disappointed in the end.

But before he could speak, Lysander looked over at her and asked, "What makes you think the prize is this ramen?" At the sound of her tone, she was really sure of herself. Besides, he wanted to know what this ramen was anyway.

The girl looked over and answered, "A friend of mine said so…" That feeling of happiness was going away slowly. Somehow, she didn't like where thing was going.

The hooded man, Ecakrad, snickered slightly and said, "The fliers said that the prize was mysterious. No one knows what it is. Seems you have been tricked again." Suddenly, the brunette realized she had been tricked, and by Stork nonetheless. She was really angry at the merb right now, but then paled at what she had gotten herself into.

"… CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!"

* * *

Author's Notes:

Here ya are! The next chapter and some good fights going on!

First off, I do not own Prinnies or the Prism Rangers; they belong to Nippon Ichi. I just combine the two together for some comic relief. If you like to see more of these little guys, go buy the Disgaea games! … Or look them up online.

Also, Vareel is now Vezeel. I accidently misspell her name in the last chapter and I am extremely sorry to azdx for making it. Also, Hawk-Masters owns Eric Von Stauffenburg; I do not.

Now, I would like to thank NekoNekoMinako, SakariWolfe, and Flame Soldier for the reviews, and Flame Soldier for the faving this story. Also, a big thanks to Mina-chan for reviewing and revising this story. She also helped with the German accent so give out a big applause to her skills.

I'll give you a little hint with the next chapter; there are no official fights. Sorry if you are disappointed.

Please Read and Review!


	7. Chapter 6: Of Knowledge and Conspriracy

Disclaimer: All characters, places, ideas, and concepts belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 6: Of Knowledge and Conspiracy_

Aerrow entered the Condor, where his team was waiting for him. They greeted him, with crushing hugs and proud remarks. Even though he was smiling with joy, deep down, he was worried what had happened earlier. Since Emma had found out that the prize wasn't ramen, he was concern for her doing something that she would regret later. But his thoughts were interrupted when Piper asked, "So, where's Emma?"

The sky knight looked over at her and answered, "She's exploring the town. She said something about being alone to dwell on her recent mistake." Right on cue, Stork peeked out from his hiding place; wearing his protection suit against any attack on his person's. He must have predicted that the Gaian might attack him for tricking her, and he decided to be prepared for the worst. But since she wasn't here, he just looked silly. The red head sighed, before saying, "Stork, did you really need to lie to Emma like that?"

The merb looked at him with a twitchy face and answered, "Well, she's out of the Condor. Besides, she isn't going to die… Unfortunately." The boy just huffed in disappointment; he thought the helmsman was better than this.

"I mean it, Stork. Emma hasn't done anything wrong to you and yet you still treat her like she's an enemy!" Aerrow knew the outer-worlder had some trouble in her past that they wouldn't agree with, and with the fact that she was trying to remain neutral in the war between sky knights and Cyclonians made it tougher for her character. But she always came through, no matter how dangerous it was. "Besides, I didn't see you treat Jack, Rufus, or any of the other Gaians we met like you do with Emma."

The merb stared at him with a serious face and answered, "Because I don't have to spend twenty-four/seven with them on _my _ship! Do you know how hard it is to live with a thing that was the enemy before the Cyclonians went totalitarian?! I bet she is working with Hawk so the other Gaians can control Atmos!" Now, that was just plain silly; the others couldn't imagine the brunette working alongside one of this world's greatest enemies. But still, she still kept them in the dark about some things. Nevertheless, the entire population can call her many things, but long-life foe wasn't one of them.

* * *

Speaking of whom, Emma was staggering around the town, tired and hungry. It was night and the entire populous was celebrating the ending of the preliminaries with a big festival. The place was wild with fireworks, games, even friendly brawls. But she wasn't celebrating; after seeing what her competition was in the finals, she was thinking about quitting before she could end up in a hospital bed on life support, if this world had any.

"Hey, is that Emma?" she heard a familiar voice said, before the teen turned around to see a blurry vision of the two lizards she met; even though the white-scaled lizard had her hair in a braid, she recognized them. The female Dragonkin went into shock and said, "That is Emma! Quick! Get her before she collapse!" The two reptilians grabbed the human girl before she could fall down, and they carried her over to a bench. Once sitting down on bench, Tokage pulled out some smoked meat and asked, "Try some of this."

Emma looked at meat before snatching it and gobbling it down. The others just stared with wide eyes at how she was eating it like an animal; she must have been really hungry. Once finishing it off, she looked over at the two and said with honest gratitude, "Thank you." They smiled; at least this human had enough humility to thank lizards.

Then, the black-scaled male looked at the human and asked, "So, are you going to stay and fight in this tournament?" The teen just shrugged; she was thinking about it, but she might have to pull out due to her getting her beaten badly. Kuroi just shook his head and said, "Me and Tokage think you should stay in the tournament. You entered it; you might as well see it through to the end."

The girl looked at the two before saying, "Easy for you to say, you guys are probably stronger and have weapons." Then, she looked down at her hands and said, "For me, I just need a reason to fight, and since my reason was fake, I don't have any reason to be here."

"Then come up with a new reason," Tokage stated sternly, "It really doesn't have to be for the prize. You can prove to everyone why you deserve to be in the finals! Just like Kuroi is proving that he isn't weak." The white-haired lizard just huffed before crossing his arms over his chest. Emma looked over at the male, before looking back at her hands. She felt a little better, but that didn't help much.

"That reason seems a little… Selfish to me." The two lizards went into shock after hearing this. Maybe proving someone's worth was a little selfish, but it was a good selfishness.

Kuroi just huffed before retorting, "Says the one who wanted the prize really badly." She instantly blushed, realizing how right he was. She did want the prize since she thought it was something she never had in a _long_ time. But the girl still didn't want to end up in the emergency room.

"… How 'bout this?" she started, before saying, "I'll just fight in the first round and see how it goes from there." This seemed reasonable; the Dragonkin will see her fight and decide if she really was a good of fighter as they heard. And Tokage had a way to see if she was going to fake or not.

"And if you do your best, I treat you to the Mana Pools," she suggested, causing the human teen to perk up a bit. She had heard of them and if they were really mana, then she was one step closer to seeing if magic was real and maybe even having that power. After daydreaming about it, she snapped back to reality when she heard the white-scaled Dragonkin said, "Now, let's enjoy the festival. You can come with us if you want."

Emma just nodded, getting up and following the two reptilians once they started to walk. The black-scaled lizard stopped, before looking back, thinking that he saw something following them. He shrugged it off; it must have been his imagination and began to follow after the females again. While walking, he still had the feeling like they were being followed. But who in their right minds would follow two Dragonkin and a normal girl?

* * *

Zack checked off a counter as he watched Dawne being flirted. It was now like seventeen men that had tried to court her now. Even with him here, men still flirted with the silverette. It was probably that the best guess was that the preliminaries were much more than just to see who goes to the finals.

"Ugh, I can't believe these men," the woman commented with disgust in her voice, "I swear, if they were Cyclonians, I would have kicked their butts." The spiky brunette rolled his eyes at that statement. He met some of her suitors and believe it, there were some he wanted to strangle to death. But he could understand why the men of this terra were flirting with her.

"I know, Dawne, but think about it for a moment," he calmly said, "This terra was just newly discovered. They probably don't know anything about the outside world. They still have the same technology and traditions for who knows how long! I bet that flirting might attract some of the women who were raised here other than you or anyone else." Dawne had to admit; that did make sense. But the next man who came up to her, asking for her hand in marriage, was going get her foot in his gut.

Speaking of which, the two stopped when they heard a small whimper. They looked over to see a girl wearing a gothic vampire dress, in the colors of grey, black, and red along with a choker with a red crystal on it. Anyway, she looked frighten because of the two men who were talking to her all flirty like. It was disgusting; sure, Dawne can understand flirting with her, but she was just a kid. And she was scared too.

The silverette was about to step in, until another man with black hair came up to the two men and spoke darkly, "I suggest you leave my precious Victoria alone… Or else you shall regret meeting her." The two males grimaced before leaving, probably more by seeing her taken than by his threat. Once seeing them gone, the man looked at the girl, clearly Victoria, and said, "Come, darling, we have a meeting to attend to." Then, they left, with the girl being more scared than ever.

Both Zack and Dawne watched the scene, both freaked out. The way that guy entered that sight was definitely unnatural to the natural world. There was something bizarre about him, something that definitely screamed out in their faces. After a few minutes, the spiky-haired man broke the silence and said, "Hey, Dawne, do you think those two were-"

"Don't say it, Zack! It's hard to imagine _them _here!" The silverette said, sounding a little scared. Who couldn't blame her, there were many things lurking in darkness of Atmos. And if a person met any of those creatures, then let them hope they make it out alive.

* * *

"Vireo! Are you listening to me?!" yelled Osprey, as she and Vireo walked around the town. The male fox demon had listened to her complaining about some human that had insulted her. As much as he would like to feel sorry for her, it was funny to actually hear a human call her an "oversized puffball". Maybe he should meet this man and give him congratulations in order to ruffle his fiancé's fur.

After a few minutes of daydreaming, he snapped back to reality when he heard the sound of someone threatening to kill one of vendors. Then two foxes looked over to see Nicholas, being held back by Kihara, Azure, and Rhia, trying claw out the merchant's eyes. It turned out that the crystal he bought with a lot of money for Rhia turned out to be a common one, and now he wanted his money back he had paid for it, even if he had to kill someone to get it.

The blonde demon raised an eyebrow, before walking over to the group. Before he could say anything, the Wild Cat interrupted, "Not now, can't you see I'm trying to stop Nick from killing someone." Wow, she even cut to the chase before he could make fun of it. Anyway, she looked back at the merchant and said, "Come on, that crystal is probably worth at least a silver. Why charge more?"

"As far as you can tell, we don't use many crystals in our daily lives," the merchant answered, a little scared, "We only use crystals in our weapons, and even with those, we still use our own strength to fight our enemies. In fact, I think crystal technology is for those who are too lazy to do things on their own." Now, that was a big insult to the squadron; Crystal Technology is a really big part to most of Atmos, even if most cultures didn't use it. Besides they weren't lazy, they just had an easier way to get work done.

The Thunder Eagles just glared at the salesman before leaving, with Vireo and Osprey not far behind. The male fox was interested in their shenanigans as he found them amusing to his eye. As for his fiancé, she was completely annoyed at his actions. But instead of complaining to him, she just glared. It was just until Vireo wins the prize, probably.

* * *

"Hey, if I ever meet Harrier again, do you think this would irritate him?" Emma asked, while holding up a skimpy, cult-like dress to her body. The other Dragonkin stared with wide-eyes; the human had told her about her recent account of Terra Rex and they didn't have much to say about her bad experience with fancy dinner etiquette. But she told them that if the Rex Guardian ever invited her again and if it involved fancy dresses, she follows the rules to a point where it would irritate both him and Piper. The reptilians decided not to get involve, best to just nod their head in approval.

After leaving the dress stand, Tokage asked, "I see that you are friendlier towards us Dragonkin than most of your kind. Why is that?" The brunette blinked, before thinking about it. Then, she just shrugged.

"I'm more into the abnormality and the supernatural than most humans." she answered, while looking at the sky. "I mean, there are maybe a million things that we, as lesser beings, don't know. And yet, we think we're all big shots. We have to conquer and/or kill something in order to prove our masculine. I swear, humans are on the lower end of lesser beings, between zombies and beast-men."

"… But aren't you human?" the white-scaled lizard asked, causing the girl to look down. She knew; that what made it worse for her. "Besides, there are good humans, like you, the Storm Hawks and those others you hang out with. And between you, me, and Kuroi, we respect one kind of human and they are not from Atmos."

Emma raised an eyebrow, inquiring, "You mean Ear-, I mean, Gaians?" That was close; if she had said "Earthlings", they might have gotten suspicious. Besides, didn't all Atmosians call a person from Earth a Gaian?

Kuroi looked over at her and said, "Myth or not, Gaians were the first ones to even stand to the Cyclonian rulers. Also, how they manage to defeat them in most of the battles, while Atmos held the superior technology at that time. Their heroes have courage, strength, and determination. You have to admire that, even if they were the enemy."

The girl gulped, before looking down. And here she thought she wouldn't find anyone else who would like her for her race. She really didn't have any friends who like her for her and ignored the fact that she was from Gaia, besides the Storm Hawks. But she felt that if she told these two about her heritage, they would still like her. After all, they did say they like Gaians, and she was one; this could work out.

But before she could say it, the Gaian was grabbed and dragged into an abandon building. Even though there was a little bit of light, she could tell it was the Murk Raiders; who else would try to kidnap her in the middle of a crowded street? Anyway, she could feel the binds wrapping around her legs and arms, making it hard for her to get away easily. And to make things worse, it seemed that no one had noticed her being taken away or else someone would have barged through already. Wait, that was only in the movies.

The teen was about to scream, but was gagged in the process. "Hehehe, now, we can't have that," she heard Eyeball mocked, "Besides, you have a promise to keep to the captain, remember, Gaian?" Dang it, it was hopeless. As much as she hated to admit it, there was nothing she could do. It looked like her luck had just run out.

"That's _really_ interesting," said a very familiar voice that held a very dark tone, "Since I was there, and I didn't hear her promised that pirate anything." Everyone in the room paled and looked up to see the black-haired man; they think his name was Jack, looking down at them. Of course, there was a problem with the logic at this moment. Either he was standing upside-down on the ceiling, or the group needed their vision check.

"Put her down and leave," he told them, showing a dark aura around him, "Or else-" He didn't have to give out the threat because all the pirate grunts quickly left. The first mate smiled silly, before setting Emma down and running away himself. The girl raised an eyebrow at this; thank god that Raiders were more cowards than her. Anyway, she looked at the man, feeling that her situation now was worse than before. Especially when he looked over at her and said in a serious tone, "Now, let's have that little chat you seem to run away from, kid."

* * *

Vezeel walked into a dark alley, away from any crowds that would try to follow her. She had been called, to bring on her report on the status so far. There wasn't much to report, but she did fool the legendary KIRA into a false sense of security, hopefully. Now, she had to do it with the other fighters, so no one would suspect what the people she was working for had planned for them.

"You're very early for the meeting," a dark voice said, as she turned to see the Goth-like man, along with the girl, standing behind her. He smiled evilly before asking, "Are you worried about getting a bad grade on your performance?"

The older woman just huffed before answering him, "You should worried more about your performance than mine since I didn't see you fighting those oversized freaks of nature… I guess you had more important things to do, like "refreshing" your thirst by using your Victoria as a cocktail drink." Then, she leaned forward and taunted, "Why not try some other race's blood instead of dirty Gaian blood?"

The man glared at her and stated, "Victoria isn't dirty! And the reason I like drinking Gaian blood is that they give me improved strength! You should be glad of that fact or else I would drink your Eurlintyr blood when I first saw you!" Vezeel's face went from teasing to serious as she went into a fighting stance; to her, this sounded like a challenge. The vampire also smiled before going into fighting stance at well. Victoria gasped, scared about what was going to happen next. Luckily, someone interrupted before it even began.

"That's enough, you two," the hooded man, Ecakrad, stepped out from the shadows, along with the two other hooded figures from that day. "We're not starting the invasion _yet_. If you do anything to mess up this mission, you will both be in penalty." The two quickly went into to their normal positions, the woman looking down in disgrace. She lost her cool back there; she wouldn't let that happen again until needed. "Now then, let's start with you," Ecakrad said, while looking at the hooded woman.

The woman gulped, before speaking, "Well, I did check out the library. But the books they had in there seem to belong in the fiction genre." That caused the bigger hooded figure to chuckled, before the woman glared at him. "What about you? I didn't _see_ you in the library helping me!"

The bulkier man stopped laughing and glared at his sister. "I was in the forest, sis! The only things I saw were just a bunch of old buildings." Now, the leader of the group would have like to know what he was doing out there, but since there was a schedule involve, it was best not to ask.

"Okay, Vincent," the vampire perked up when his name was called. "Tell us what you discovered while flying over the preliminaries." He smirked before stepping up in front of everyone. If these people like what he had found out, that Anti-Age crystal was as good as his.

"First off, we have sixteen fighters left, including you and Vezeel." The woman just snorted; everyone knew that. "And after some serious investigating, I have found out on what the others are for you opponents." Then, he took out some photos and passed them out to everyone. They were pictures of the other outside fighters and some of the crowd as well.

"Let's begin with your biggest annoyance; Aerrow of the Storm Hawks. As all of you may know, he is a sky knight and has defeated you in the past. I think he doesn't want to prize and is just here to have a good time. His squadron is here also, which might cause some big problems if they found out what we're doing…

"Now, Dawne Eagleheart also known as KIRA: A genetically-engineered super soldier, much like Vezeel, only this one has a conscious. Strong and capable of using attacks without crystals, she is a danger if she found out our plan. But I know how much you really want her in your army, so I suggest you capture either Zack of Silver Wolves or Rhiannon Moonbeam of the Thunder Eagles, and use them as a bargaining chip.

"Since I mentioned the sky knight of the Thunder Eagles, let's view her, shall we? A crystal specialist and a sky knight all the same, she and her crew are along up there with Storm Hawks. Here to get the prize, my guess that she'll be determined to fight as anyone to the limit for it.

"Next, Vireo; a fox demon. Since he's in the range of beast demons, he knows a lot of mirage tricks, along with the way of using lightning to his ability as a whip. He's currently here with his fiancé, Osprey, another one of his kind. Even though he teases her a lot, he'll try to save her if she was in trouble, like I would if Victoria was in trouble.

"Kuroi and Tokage; two Dragonkin who are childhood friends. Even though the two hate the Cyclonian Empire, Tokage is seen with Repton from time-to-time. Since I hear he has loyalty issues, capturing her might help with those. As for her little friend, you might want to try to kill him if you do capture her successfully.

"Now, Lysander was a mystery to me. He's amnesiac, has entered mysteriously and has the occasion of disappearing from time to time. Because of his likeness to Harrier, he might be a long-lost relative or just a coincidence. I will do further investigation on him to figure out more.

"The Gaian soldiers; Jack Blade, Rufus MacArthur, and Eric Von Stauffenburg. While Rufus and Eric are normal humans, Jack has half-Gaian vampire blood in his genes. Even though you haven't officially declared war on the Gaian settlers yet, they still side with the sky knights because of their sense of right-and-wrong. You can try to kill Jack, but if you have the willpower, can I have the two humans as prisoners? They might help in case my darling is nowhere near me.

"Captain Scabulous of the Murk Raiders. Cunning, determined, but foolhardy when it comes to the dangers. He's here for not only the prize, but the entire treasure of this terra. Because of his pirate code, we know that he will not join you or any other in this war. But we know _one _of his weakeness…

"Which brings us to our final fighter, Emma. A teen girl of Gaian blood who isn't strong or skilled like the legends say. But even with her weak stature, not only did she survive this world, but has thwarted your plans from time to time. Even though she is not considered your biggest threat, I hear that you would like her… How you did you say it, "Horribly tortured in the lowest chamber of Oblivion"?

"Now, any questions?" the vampire asked, waiting for anyone to ask him something. It was a few seconds until the big man raised his hand. "Yes, do you need a recap of what I said?"

"Actually, I want to know when we are going to start this invasion?" the man asked, looking very sadistic at the moment. The two, older women just sighed; he certainly wasn't the one for patience.

Ecakrad glared at the man and answered, "We'll start it when the time is right. Until then, Vezeel and I will have to stay in the tournament. That is, if she uses the Enhancers that we brought with us." Vezeel glared at him while smiling evilly. That sounded like a challenge.

"I'm not weak, if that is what you are suggesting. I can win this thing, even without the invasion. And I can do it without cheating." she said, really determined about this whole thing. The hooded man just smirked; oh well, her loss.

"Okay then. We'll have another one of these meetings when something else comes up. Now, let's go." The man commanded, as the others quickly nodded and left. He smiled evilly before looking up at the sky. The master would be certainly pleased.

* * *

"Hey! You!" yelled a voice, as Lysander turned to see Rufus and Eric. "Have you seen Jack? You know, tall, black hair, looks human." The pale man just shook his head. Truth be told, he didn't remember anything from tonight that he did recently. The orange-haired man just groaned and said, "Oh… Well, thanks…"

The blonde was about to leave, until the two Dragonkin came up to him and the female asked, "Hey, have you seen a girl? Golden-brown hair, blue eyes, and wears strange clothes." Again, he shook his head; it was strange on how there were people missing. She looked scared at his response and muttered, "Oh man, we need to find Emma soon. It's unlikely she went off on her own."

The black-scaled lizard just stared at her and said, "I agree. Even though the Storm Hawks described her as the one to run off by herself, it was not likely that she could walk away without us noticing." The man felt sorry for them, really he did. But there was nothing he could do for them or the other two that had lost their friend as well. He was about to leave again until the human with the orange hair spoke up.

"Wait, you mean the same girl that entered because she thought the prize was ramen?" The three world locals nodded, making him smirk. "Hey, Eric, maybe we should help these two with finding this girl. Jack said he still wanted to ask her some questions." That gave them hope; if more people were looking, then it would be easier to find them. Unfortunately, the colonel didn't like the idea of working alongside lizards.

"Sorry, but I vould rather find Jack by ourselves, instead of vorking with two overgrown reptiles." The one-eyed man said, making the Dragonkin feeling shock. He was Gaian and yet he saw them as most humans would, lower species.

Kuroi, being insulted, just huffed and said, "At least I still have my whole eyesight… Along with my other limbs." The German man growled, glaring at the white-haired lizard. Rufus, Lysander, and Tokage sighed; men and their pride.

Because of the glaring scene, some people took notice; the Storm Hawks, the Thunder Eagles, Dawne, Zack, Vireo, and Osprey stopped and looked as the black-scaled Dragonkin and brunette human locked their eyes into a staring contest. It was actually funny since they were just exchanging glances instead of going into a dirt brawl. It was several seconds afterwards that Finn spoke up, "So, what are you guys doing besides watching these two go into a staring contest?"

Rufus looked at the blonde teen and answered, "Actually, we're just waiting for them to stop so we could go look for Jack and your new friend. I think he might be with her." That was good; Emma was under supervision from someone they respected. But of course, it seemed too good to be true.

"Okay, _why_ is Jack with Emma in the first place?" asked Aerrow, a little curious. Maybe Jack had figured it out, and right now, he was just telling the Gaian girl about his time in Atmos. But maybe it was the opposite of that.

"He said he has some things that he wanted to discuss with her." The orange-haired answered, but added, "Of course, with her behavior of running away whenever he asked her something, I wouldn't be surprised if he was holding her captive right now." With that said, everyone in their minds imagined a scary-looking Jack overlooking a scared Emma; each was different, but still had the same effect on their minds. As everyone turned white as a sheet, Rufus sweatdropped and said, "… Let's go find the two before we end up with a murder story at nine."

Before everyone could split up, a voice called out, "What's this I hear about a murder story at nine?" The group turned around to see the genetically-altered human behind them, along with the said-missing girl. While he was calm and collective, the girl looked nervous as she smiled a big, fake grin. This made everyone think that the man really did what they thought he did.

Raising an eyebrow at their expressions, the black-haired man said, "Relax, I was just having a talk with this girl here." He gently pushed her up front, as she just kept on the creepy smile. "Someone should be with her _**always**_. She almost got taken by those pirates… What you call them? Murk Raiders?" That gave them a shock, as they looked at the girl again. She was still grinning, which scared them out a bit. But she looked okay.

Piper, going with a scientific approach, looked at her and asked, "Are you okay, Emma?" The brunette teen nodded sort-of in a hypnotic trance. The tanned girl raised an eyebrow and asked again, "Are you sure?" The other nodded strangely again, which made everyone very suspicious of the moment. All except for Finn who really wanted to party right now.

"Come on! Let's go rock this terra! With Finn McCool!" he shouted out, before doing his signature gun hands. Everyone groaned, but they had to agree with him; it was a celebration tonight and they might as well enjoy it. The group started to move again, heading back to the Condor so they could party there. Along the way, Emma was thinking about her conversation with Jack several minutes ago.

_Flashback_

"_Relax, I'm not a bad guy," the black-haired man said, kneeling down near the girl. Even though she wasn't showing it, she was scared, especially of how he was standing on the ceiling like that. Sighing, the man opened up his coat, revealing a __Smith & Wesson Model 500s_ _gun underneath it. The teen's eyes went wide as he said, "See, I'm from Earth. Just the same as you." Removing the gag, he directly said, "Now, how 'bout you tell me what you know?"_

_Now, normally, Emma was a stickler when telling people about her heritage and experience, but with the fact that he had a gun made her blurt out everything. Her time with Cyclonia, why the Murk Raiders were chasing after her, heck, she even told him about the Gaia legend, which would might have given someone from her world a reason to attack Atmos. Once she was done, Jack just stared at her with a calm face._

"_... What are you going to do now?" she asked, a little scared of her situation. If there was another Gaian with a gun here, it could have meant bad. And she definitely didn't want to be a part of it because of the bad reputation Gaians had._

_The man rubbed the back of his head and muttered, "Well, you are past the age where you can make your own decisions." Once looking back at her, he said, "Yea, you seem like a good kid. You can do whatever you want to do. But I still need to make you a file for security reasons." That didn't help much; she had gotten use to being just an unknown loner. But if it was needed, then she had to go through with it._

_As the man bent over to untie her, the girl said, "As long as you don't tell anyone else from Atmos I'm from Earth. I know there are still a few people who hold that grudge against us for "causing" Cyclonia to go tyrannical." Jack raised an eyebrow; how can people blame something for how it was going to turn out? The Cyclonian Empire was probably oppressive before the whole mythic war nonsense with their world thousands of years ago. Once she was free, she stood up and remembering something, asked him, "Oh yea, how did you stand on the ceiling anyway?"_

_Jack just sighed and answered, "I am semi genetically-altered with both Dracula's and a Space Vampire's blood running through my veins." The teen brunette didn't look shocked. In fact, she was a bit spacey on her face._

"… _Cool. I wish I was something like that." she said, causing the man to roll his eyes. She was didn't know how lucky she was to be human. He knew it was better than drinking blood when needed._

_End Flashback_

Emma blinked, before looking at Aerrow, telling him, "Hey, do you know that Jack is a genetically-altered half vampire from my world?" That caused the sky knight to smile a bit; she finally realized that she had some of her own people here on Atmos. And it was definitely helping with her opening up more.

"Really? I never knew." He said, trying to sound surprised. The girl puffed out her cheeks; he knew it but he was just acting nice so she wouldn't look like an idiot. But she was going to let it past. Tonight was the night to relax before the big day tomorrow, and the group really needed to have some fun for the night.

Because after this, it would be rough times for the fighters from now on.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the long update! I had some things come up. Hopefully this will help you beat the boredom if you're still on Spring Break!

Well, I hear the second season of Storm Hawks have ended. At least it didn't contradict with my Atmos/Earth theory. Don't worry, I figured out how to keep writing this story without contradicting the series, and even so, I mentioned my fanfics are a little AUious. Hopefully, there are the comics to look forward and maybe even a movie if Nerd's Corps comes up with any more updates on the series!

For thank yous, I would like to thank SakariWolfe, Flame Soldier, NekoNekoMinako, Kitten2007, and Hawk-Masters for reviewing! I hope this chapter will help you beat boredom! Also, to Hawk-Masters, I'll try to get your other character into the story next chapter!

So, as I said before, Please Read and Review!


	8. Chapter 7: First Round Rumble

Disclaimer: All characters, places, ideas, and concepts belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 7: First Round Rumble_

_Dawne was running as hundreds of skeleton hands tried to grab her. Everywhere, people were being grabbed and dragged down into the far reaches of Netherworld. It was horrifying: everyone she knew and loved was being taken away, yet with all her power, she couldn't do anything about it. That made her scared the most._

_She found Zack using his broadsword against the undead hands, but it was still no use. He was soon dragged down with the others. As he struggled against his attackers, he looked over at the silverette and yelled out, "Dawne! Help!" She started to race over to him, but was stopped by an undead soldier. But what made her froze with fear and shock wasn't the fact that he look like all the others._

_It was because of the fact that undead looked like Lysander._

* * *

"Dawne? Dawne! Wake up!" yelled Zack, as he shook a very sleeping Dawne. She woke up, dripping with cold sweat. That nightmare, it was so real. And what made it even more scary was how Lysander was about to attack her. Maybe it was just post-tourney stress.

"You okay?" asked Zack as she looked over at him, "It sounded like you were having a nightmare." Could she tell him? It was probably nothing, but yet, it probably wasn't. No one can really tell if they live on Atmos.

Going with the former choice, the silverette answered, "I'm fine. It was just a bad dream." The look on the brunette's face showed that he didn't believe her. She was always trying to sound like she alright when he knew she wasn't. But maybe it was just her not getting enough sleep after last night.

Once getting out of bed, she stretched out and said, "Come on. Today's the day when they post up the fights for the first round." Oh yea, he completely forgot that the young woman was still in the tournament. If luck was on her side, she would be getting an easy opponent and wouldn't have to use her full power. But then again, was luck ever a factor in life?

* * *

The entire population of the terra was looking up at a huge billboard to see who was fighting who in the first round. While others were ecstatic, a few were disappointed in who they were up against. One, however, was in pure shock in who she was fighting against. Oh, why was Karma against her?

Emma stood firm, scared at who she was fighting in the first round. Scabulous, why did it have to be that pirate?! She wanted an easy opponent, or someone who wouldn't use any dirty tricks. She knew she was going to get her butt kicked, and in front of everyone as well. She only paled with despair while Finn, Tokage, and Kuroi were trying to comfort her.

"… At least it's the last match in first round," said the blond boy, trying to make her feel better. It didn't work - she was still annoyed by the fact that she was facing against that buccaneer. The Dragonkin tried to follow the sharpshooter's lead and tried to give her a good explanation.

"Yea, Emma, you'll have plenty of time to train," the white-scaled lizard patted her head. She groaned, causing the other Storm Hawks to look over. Aerrow raised an eyebrow; he didn't understand what the brunette was worried about. She was going to have plenty of time to get ready...that is, if she didn't slack off until then.

"You should be glad," said Jack's voice, as he, Rufus, and Eric appeared, "I get the fox demon in the second match. And without my guns, it's going to be difficult to defeat him." The Dragonkin just raised an eyebrow at his statement; there were so many things they still didn't know about the modern Gaian culture. They only thing they knew was that Gaia was home to the best warriors to rival sky knights. And now they were going to see if that rumor was true.

Piper sighed before looking up to see who was in the first match. After examining it, she said, "It looks like that Lysander guy is first… And he's going up against one of the Roc brothers." Now, everyone felt sorry for him. After seeing the locals in action, he needed to fight at full strength in order to at least survive.

"… Well," said Finn, as he shrugged, "let's get some good seats before we have another brawl in the stands." As he marched away, the others imagined and shivered about was going to happen when looking for seats. The locals were literally serious about combating, and being caught in one of their little…The group started to head for the coliseum before there got to be a big riot.

Meanwhile, the Thunder Eagles also read the tournament bracket, which caused their leader to frown. She really wanted to fight Vireo; they were both really determined to get the prize. And besides, she wanted to know what it was like to fight a Fox Demon. "… At least I got Aerrow."

"… The Thunder Eagles' sky knight versus the Storm Hawks', huh?" asked Kihara, looking a little inquisitive. "… This might be the battle of the century."

"Nah," said Nicholas, "Aerrow fought some pretty big-name sky knights before. What makes you think this fight is going to be any different?" The young red head _did_ fight some stronger sky knights, but that didn't stop the wild cat from smirking.

"Because, I will be using this!" she exclaimed, before revealing a glowing, yellow crystal. Everyone awed at its magnificence - it was a Thunder-Strike Crystal, perfect for landing an electric-powered attack. She had been working on it for quite some time, and now, she was going to give it the perfect field test.

The sky knight looked over at her group and said, "Come on, we need to find seats." After yesterday, they wanted to be early for the matches. The only thing they had to say was how hard the locals hit.

* * *

"… Are you ready, my slave?"

"Yes…?"

"Then, go out there and win…" Once the doors opened, Lysander walked out, being blinded by the sudden appearance of the sun's lights. He heard the cheers of the crowd as they watched him enter the arena. He blinked, before realizing that he was talking to someone; he didn't know who, but he felt it was someone he knew. But before he could see who it was, the doors closed, leaving the blond in more suspense than before.

He suddenly went stiff with fear when he heard a loud crash from behind. He turned to see that he was facing against a shirtless man with brown hair and crimson eyes. The pale man quickly recognized him as one of the Roc Brothers that had successfully entered the finals. And by the scars on the other man's chest, he was going to have a tough time trying to win.

The two combatants held up their weapons, ready to fight one another at the signal. "Ready… FIGHT!" yelled the announcer, making the two run at each other with their weapons. In Lysander's mind, it seemed simply enough; just attack until the enemy falls down from defeat. Unfortunately, he choked and went into defense when his foe swung at him.

Lysander definitely felt the force of the blow on the sword. It was really solid; an attack like that would have severed a limb. He stayed on the defense as the other man continued to throw hit after hit at him. If this keeps up, he was going to be out without even trying.

His opponent pushed the man away, getting ready for another strike. The blond blinked, before seeing his chance to attack. He readied his sword and thrust forward, only to stop when he realized that the man didn't have any armor on. Unfortunately, the other noticed his resistance and kicked him in the stomach. The armored man was forced back, still standing but barely hanging on to consciousness.

That's when he felt incredible power flowing through him. He was suddenly glowing yellow as his eyes flared up. He took a step back, raising his sword up. And then, with his opponent was rushing at him, he swung his sword, causing a yellow disk of energy to materialize and head straight at the other man. Realizing at the last minute, the enemy stopped in his tracks, but it was too late to dodge and he fell over with a thud.

Lysander walked over to the knocked-out challenger before removing his fighter's sash. He held it high as the crowd cheered loudly. He didn't know how he did that move, but now he was closer than ever to getting his memories back. Meanwhile in the stands, some people were dropping jaws at what just happen.

"… No way!" shouted Piper at the top of her lungs, "That was a sky knight move! There is no way he could have done that unless he was a sky knight!" Emma just looked at her with a confused look. She didn't get why the specialist sounded so surprised.

"So? This must mean Lysander is a sky knight. I don't see the problem." The brunette said, causing the others to stare at her. The things she still didn't know about Atmos… What a pain.

"It's not that simple," spoke Aerrow as he looked at the Gaian girl, "Unless Lysander was missing in action, there is no way he could be one of the current sky knights of Atmos. Besides, it's really hard to get your own move. I had to wait until I was fighting Carver to find mine."

"I have to agree with Aerrow," said another voice, British by the accent, "After studying their genetic structure, it seems that one of their chromosomes remains dormant until something activates it." Everyone turned to see a young man, around Emma's age, with brown hair and green eyes. He was skinny, a scholar by the looks of it, and he wore glasses. Even though the Dragonkin and Emma didn't recognize him, the others just smiled at his appearance.

"Hmph, long time, no see, George," Jack said, as he shook the young man's hand. The boy just smiled, glad to be among old friends again. The half-vampire smiled also before noticing the confused people. He looked at them and explained, "This is George Falshaw; head technician, professor, reverend, and doctor. Basically, the go-to guy if any of you are in trouble." The brunette man smiled, before bowing his head. The lizards smiled at this; he seemed the polite sort.

Tokage examined George and said, "So, are you from Gaia?" He was about to answer, before she asked again, "And if so, are you one of its scholars? You seem so by your stature." He blinked before raising his eyebrow. What was this Gaia they were talking about? It sounded strangely familiar.

Before he could answer again, the blue-eyed girl just rolled her head back and lazily responded, "He is, and by the sound of his voice, he's British." The two Dragonkins blinked before staring at her with wide-eyes. For Kuroi, he just looked at her suspiciously.

"… British?" he asked, warily just as the girl snapped to reality. She just gave out a nervous laugh before sinking down into her chair; she almost blew it again, didn't she? As those who really know the truth just groaned, George leaned forward to be on the level with Jack's head.

"So, this is the girl you were talking about over the communicator?" he questioned, as black-haired man gave a simple nod. "… She does look like she's from Earth. But I don't remember her being with us when we came through the portal."

The chancellor looked over at him and whispered back, "And you shouldn't. She says she came here at least twelve _years_ before we did, but it was after that we went through that she came here. If she did, she would have been _a lot _older than she is now. So, I don't if we went through time _and_ space, or that portal did a backlash on the space/time continuum." The young adult raised an eyebrow; this was a very interesting turn of events for the Peacekeepers if someone from their world's past was here, right now. But before he could ask any more questions, the older man stood up and said, "Now, if you excuse me, I have a fox demon to fight."

"Go get 'em, Jack!" yelled Rufus, causing George to sigh in shame; some things definitely haven't changed since he last saw them. But his expression went from embarrassment to shock when he heard the term "Fox demon". He didn't know who to feel sorry for - Jack, or his opponent.

* * *

Vireo waited in the arena for his opponent to appear. He was fighting one of the Gaian fighters, the one with the evil stench to his persons. He smiled evilly, thinking about what was going to happen for his fight. Not only was he going to win, he was going to cream his opponent… Maybe he should relax his skills; he didn't want a bloody corpse on the field.

"VIREO!!!!" he heard his fiancé yelled, as he turned to see her waving a banner all around in order to support him. That was sweet, but at the same time, almost embarrassing to see. Then, he heard the doors open to see Jack enter, looking calm and collective. This looked bad - if someone looked like that, it means he must have a trick up his sleeve. Maybe he should go full-strength in this battle...

"Ready… FIGHT!!!!!" yelled the announcer again, as the human rushed in for a frontal attack. The fox demon smirked - humans are way too predictable nowadays. He materialized his lightning whip and swung it at Jack, causing the black-haired man to jump away in time. That was close...too close.

"Hehehe, good human… And so you don't attack me from any other angle," the blond demon said, before generating three tops circling around him like a barrier. "Don't be fooled by their appearance as _toys_. They really pack a wallop if spun at the right velocity." The man growled, knowing that even with his gun, there was no way to get a small bullet pass that kind of barrier, especially if his opponent could control it. It was best to be on the defensive until a plan was made.

For the next few minutes, Jack had been dodging tops and the lightning whip attacks from Vireo. The crowd cheered with anticipation at how exciting it was becoming with each new attack the fox threw out. As for the black-haired man, he was still having trouble thinking about how to get around those tops. He did have one solution, but he didn't want to head there yet.

While he continued to dodge, the human noticed a break in the tops' barrier. It seemed that the toy tops had different speeds, making a gap just for a second. He smiled, making a jump just when the gap appeared again. Then, he took a jab at the demon's side, causing the other to lose his balance. Now, this battle was in his favor.

For thirty seconds, the human used a variety of un-armed attacks against the blond, while he was blocking with barrier magic. For someone who looked human, the strength coming from him was definitely not. It wouldn't be long before his stamina was on the same level, or lower, than his foe. For one of the punches, the black-haired human knocked the fox demon to the ground. He walked over to the other before picking him up; holding his other hand up for the final blow, but the demon just snickered in response.

"Do you really want to do that?" Jack heard a familiar voice asked, "After all the hardships we went through, do you really want to hurt me?" Shaking his head, he was about to continued until he was staring at a woman with dark-brown hair and light green eyes. She was wearing clothes similar to his, and on the look on her face, she looked really scared by how he was holding her. The half vampire became pale, shaking with fear.

"M-Mikki?" he questioned, afraid of what was he was about to do to who he was seeing. Now, to those in reality, they were staring at a very scared Jack, overlooking a sneaky-looking fox demon. Some of them were very confused by what he was doing, but others came to the conclusion that he was under some spell. Dang, that Vireo was sly.

"… Who's Mikki?" asked Emma, sounding a little confused. The others just stared at her with a neutral face; oh yea, she wasn't with the other Gaians when they first came to Atmos. She probably didn't even know about the advanced cities that they had on some of the terras. She really needed to catch up on current events.

George looked over at the brunette girl and answered, "Mikki is Jack's longtime friend. They have been through a lot together. In fact, they both have vampire genes due to the experiments a man by the name of 'Awk… Which is probably for the best that you don't meet 'im." Due to his accent, he pronounced "Hawk" as "'Awk", but most of the people got what he said. She blinked before going into deep thought. So, genetic manipulation was possible now.

"… Maybe I should find this Hawk guy. He might be cool enough to manipulate my genes to give a tail or maybe something to make me anything but a full-blooded human." she muttered, just enough for everyone to hear. The group just stared at her with shock faces. Why anyone would say that about themselves is beyond them.

For Eric, he just huffed and said, "Vat's wrong vith being human? Ve have done great things. In fact, ve humans are better than any other race here." That caused Stork and Kuroi to glare - they were just as good as any humans who thought of them as lowly. The Gaian teen just stared at him before looking up at the sky. She didn't seem fazed by his reaction.

"That may be true, but it's people like you and all the other idiots that cause most of the world's problems." she answered, unaware of what she just spoke. At the last minute, she quickly hid behind Junko, while both Rufus and George tried their best to hold back Eric from injuring the girl to a higher extent. The wallop just blinked in confusion. He didn't get what was going on; he was too busy eating some flame corn.

Meanwhile, back with Jack's battle, he was still in shock that he was about to the person he was holding. That's when "Mikki" smirked and kicked him in the stomach. The man faltered back before seeing the "woman" stand up. Then, in no time, "she" transformed back into Vireo and said, "Geez, for someone who had beaten my other tricks, I thought you would see through my disguise."

Okay, the soldier had enough of this fight and decided to end this, even if it meant doing the impossible. Making his nails extend, he rushed over at the fox getting ready for an attack. The other combatant noticed this, setting up for his lighting whip attack. Once his target was in range, he materialized his whip and threw it at the black-haired man. The half vampire ducked, but was hit really bad on the back. Fortunately, he continued to run at the demon, even with hit after hit. Pretty soon, he slashed his claws at the arm at his opponent's arm, before kneeling to the ground, breathing heavily.

"… You're done." he said, before standing up and holding out what looked to be a bandanna. The blond blinked before looking down at his arm. He then went into shock, now realizing that his bandanna, the one that symbolized an official fighter, was off. According to the official rules, if your bandanna was off during an official battle, it meant you were out of the tournament. In other words, Jack got him out without making him faint.

Vireo just looked at the human before complimenting, "Nice… You really are one of the smarter ones." As the crowd cheered, Osprey cried; her fiancé had lost to a lower being. Another two, Zack and Dawne, just stared with gasps. For someone to defeat a fox demon without doing anything, it definitely took skill.

"Man, I wouldn't want to fight him if he all he needed to do was remove the bandannas," the spiky brunette said, before looking over at Dawne. She wasn't scared, unless she faced him and had to use the OMEGA technique in order to defeat him. If the people knew she was KIRA, then that would be a damper on this vacation. Staring at her, Zack realized something before saying, "You're up next, right?"

Getting back to reality, the silverette looked over at him and said, "Yea, I'm fighting one of the Roc brothers." Then, she stood up and started to head down to the arena floor. The man just watched before thinking about what had happened so far. It was really intense and scary, but at the same time, pretty exciting. Besides, Dawne might have a little fun along the way.

Little did he know that Vincent, Vezeel, and Ecakrad were also watching, getting ready for the surprise they had in store for the terra...

* * *

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the long wait! I _was_ busy! One of the things that kept me busy was I went to an anime convention where I live. I'm not going to tell you which one unless you figure out a way to talk, which is unlikely.

Anyway, I have something to say, since my fights tend to be short, I'm going to put up at least two-to-three fights. What you guys think? Too much? Too little? Your opinion counts as well.

I do not own George, he belongs to Hawk-Masters. Sorry, if I didn't his accent right, British, along with some others, are not one of my specialties.

Anyway, thank you SakariWolfe, Hawk-Masters, NekoNekoMinako, Cold-heart-Angel23, azdx, and Flame Soldier for the reviews. Also, thank you for azdx for the fav on this story! You guys have really supported me with this! And a big thanks to NekoNekoMinako for editing this chappy! Please give out cookies or any other praise to her as well.

So, what awaits next chapter? Here's what I can say; Fights, comedy, and suspense!

Please Read and Review!


	9. Chapter 8: Friends Turned Rivals

Disclaimer: All characters, settings, ideas, and concepts belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 8: Friends Turned Rivals_

Dawne quickly dodged the on-coming swing of the huge hammer and jumped back. A few minutes into the fight and already, it was getting good. Her opponent was definitely good - not enough to use OMEGA form, but good. In fact, she was only playing with him; but maybe later, it would be time to get serious.

Another dodge of the hammer and the crowd cheered again. Out of the entire stadium though, none of them cheered as loudly as Zack and all of Dawne's other friends. Considering that these people would be cheering for a fellow local, the silverette needed all the support she could get, even if they weren't exactly on the battlefield. Although she was doing pretty good for herself, it helped.

Once seeing an opening, the woman decided to advance and threw a barrage of kicks at her opponent. They weren't hard, but by they definitely knocked the wind out of him. The man stumbled back before swinging his hammer at her again. Instead of dodging, however, she stopped the head of the weapon with one of her dual-blades and, using leverage, slugged it and the owner at a wall. And just like that, he was exhausted and dizzy from battle.

The silverette walked over to the man and removed his sash. The crowd cheered even louder, probably complementing her on a good fight. She turned to Zack and saw him waving at her. She waved back, before heading towards the locker room. She was tired, as the fight was harder than it looked. Now, she just needed to wait until her next match comes up.

Meanwhile in the stands, the Storm Hawks, the Gaians, and the Dragonkin were amazed by how she not only lasted, but won the battle. Dawne was definitely a very seasoned warrior if she could take on one of the locals without using her full strength. She definitely deserved to be in the finals.

Aerrow looked over at the others and said, "So, who wants to go down and congratulate Dawne on her win?" All except two answered with "yes"; they felt they should give the silverette the recognition she deserved. The only two who wanted to stay behind was George and Emma.

"No thanks, Aerrow." said the brunette girl in a laid back tone, "Someone needs to watch over the seats if anyone decides to steal this view." Her reason sounded noble; there were people definitely looking over at where they were sitting very enviously. But to the red head, she sounded a little jealous. Maybe it was because Dawne was definitely a better fighter and more helpful if the sky knight squadron was facing off with Cyclonians.

George looked over at the leader and answered as well, "I will stay 'ere also. I need to do some updating on the files." The local Atmosians still didn't have any idea on what he was talking about. Some things from Gaia still confused this world due to them being separated for a long time. Anyway, the sky knight left, along with the others, leaving the two behind.

The teen Gaian just sighed and looked at the sky. She was dead; she was definitely dead. Everyone in this contest was either a super-powered soldier or had years of extreme training. For her, she was just her normal, human self. She was in depression for a second until she heard the familiar sound of typing.

Emma looked over at the slightly older boy to see that he was typing on a laptop - definitely something she hadn't seen in a while. And by the looks of it, it had wireless connection. Now, she really missed being on the computer, surfing the web and playing her games. So, she looked at him and asked, "Can I have that laptop, please?" He looked over at her, very pleased that she used manners to ask for his computer. But before he could answer, she had already taken it and started to play with it. She was definitely American.

The girl started to explore the monitor a little bit, looking for World of Warcraft to play. The only icons she could see find were the Internet, Call of Duty 4, and a computer file that read "Secret Pentagon Files". Being the curious citizen she was, she clicked on the icon and it opened up several other files that definitely would give conspirators new theories. She scrolled down until something caught her eye. "… What's this "Swords of Ragnarok" project?"

George quickly grabbed his computer back before explaining, "It was a project during World War II, when some spies said that the enemy was looking for some "mythical" weapons in order to rule the world." She believed it; the person who originally started the war definitely went scientific and cultist to win it. "But it ended in failure due to all the leads ending up in dead ends." That was good. The world didn't need another powerful weapon after the Atom bomb. But she really was interested if those weapons really did exist. Unfortunately, her thoughts were interrupted when a familiar annoyance came up on her left.

"What's that? Some sort of futuristic book?" asked the pirate, causing the young adult to look at him. He had heard of this kind a creature from Jack, but dreaded to meet one. By the looks, he looked like a reptilian, but with his black dreads, he might have been an advance form like the Dragonkin. He also noticed how he was leaning against the girl like she was a comrade or buddy of his. But to him, she looked pretty stiff.

"… A friend of yours?" the British boy asked, causing the other brunette to snap back to reality. He sounded like he didn't like the Murk Raider very much, and she couldn't blame him. She knew why the pirate was really here; he was making sure that his opponent wasn't having second thoughts about running away.

Before she could answer, Captain Scabulous replied, "Oh yea, we go back _real_ close. Kraken's Pass, the Slum Markets; heck, we even fought off Talons together." This caused her to groan quietly; since most of the time she was at those places she was running away from the sky buccaneers. And she was pretty sure that he was just using this moment just to make sure she wasn't planning to run away.

Quickly getting out of the pirate's grasp, Emma looked at him and said, "We're _**not**_ friends. You chase after me whenever you have time! Now, please go away." Then, she tried to shoo the Raider away by waving her hands away from him. The young man just watched with a sweat drop forming. He knew that it only works with dogs.

The captain just looked over at her and responded, "I can sit wherever I want to sit; it's a free terra." The teen girl was about to debate, before realizing that his statement was true. She sat back down, grumbling in defeat. As long as someone was fighting, it didn't matter if the seat was taken. George just stared at them in confusion; he really needed to hear about the American's adventure.

* * *

When Dawne walked out of the locker room, she was greeted by a hug from Zack, the Storm Hawks, the Thunder Eagles, the two Dragonkin, and the other people she had seen in this tournament. They all congratulated her on the victory she achieved, and she knew she deserved it after all that hard work. Strangely, she didn't see Lysander, that strange girl, or the woman who helped her in the preliminaries with them. They must have better things to do.

"So, Aerrow, I guess you're up next." the silverette said with a smile, "You know who you're going to fight?" The red head laughed while holding the back of his head; he knew he was fighting against Rhia in the next match. The only difference between this and any other battle with sky knights was that she was almost around his age.

"I know, and don't worry, I'll be fine," he said, knowing that some people might worry of his fighting against the wild cat. Anyway, he turned to the other sky knight and told her, "I'm going to head out now. See ya on the battle field."

The cat girl smiled and replied, "Same to you." Then, the two went their separate ways, causing the others to watch. This was definitely going to be a good battle, even if it was against two, equal allies.

A few seconds later, Tokage and Kuroi started to take their leave as well. Piper noticed this and asked, "Hey, where are you two going?" The two Dragonkin stopped before staring at her. The look on their faces was definitely serious.

"After the sky knights' match, it will be me versus Kuroi," answered the white-scaled lizard, causing the rest of the group to gasp. Though there were few random events that would make a friend fight a friend, no one would ever want to fight against one-another. However, the two reptilians didn't look phased by this.

"Relax; we knew we were going to fight each other at one time or another… Might as well be in the arena," the black-scaled Dragonkin stated, now causing the others to freak out. It was like he didn't even care if his childhood companion was fighting against him. But deep down, he cared but knew that both wanted to go with each other to test their skills. Besides, this was a battle, so there was no holding back.

Watching the group from the shadows, Vezeel just leaned against the wall, snickering at their conversation. What was wrong with friends fighting friends? Most humans seem to do it a lot anyways. Now, while the group was heading back to their seats, she was thinking of a way to leak out the information of an invasion to those people without letting her employers know. It wasn't like she was on _their _side; she just hated the people she was working for.

"So, Vezeel, I take that you are enjoying the brawl fest?" said a familiar voice to her, making the black-haired woman turned around and stare. It was a woman with ghost white skin, black eyes, and the same hair color as her. The woman was wearing a dark blue dress with matching shoes and grey arm guards that had strange symbols drawn. She also had on blue eye shadow to show at least some color to her skin. The Eurlian human smirked. It was Tadeh, another one of her race.

"Yea, and I guess you're done installing that puppet government?" the younger woman stated, before looking down. "Of course this tournament would have been better if the people I'm working for invaded this terra _after_ the finals." Then, she looked over at the other woman and continued, "Not only did they send the three idiot commanders and a vampire with a Gaian pet here, but now they have a cyborg general with a super-powered army to help us capture this terra. I'm just trying to figure out how to give the information to the enemy without _really_ giving information."

The ghost-skinned woman just stared at her and asked, "Why don't just tell them up front? What's stopping you from telling them that there's going to be an invasion on this terra?" The other just sighed in contempt - she knew very well the reason.

"Because that vampire I told you about earlier can turn into a small bat, which he can use to spy on the other competitors." Vezeel answered, before standing up completely, "We bickered a little earlier because I called his pet a dirty Gaian, and he might use that to get some dirt on me."

"Hmmmm, that is a problem," her superior said, in deep thought, "…Well, it's best to end this conversation now; that vampire might be listening to us right now." Then, the two just shook hands and left, the younger one constantly thinking about how to reveal the invasion plans without truly revealing them… It was going to be a lot harder than she thought.

* * *

"But I wanna see brawls!" the hooded man said, causing the hooded woman to roll her eyes. They were back at the library, trying to uncover anything else they had missed. It would have been better if her not-so-bright sibling wasn't complaining about missing out the tournament. Why did it matter anyway? They were going to invade anyway.

"I said no!" the woman exclaimed back, "Now, you either help me, or else I'll have you clean my battle ship for a month." That definitely caused him to shut up and go back to reading. She smirked; she liked barking out punishment.

Suddenly, a solemn echo of footsteps came towards them as a voice said, "You know, you seem to be the least quiet bunch, especially since we're in a library." The two looked over at a tall, buff man, with brown hair. He was wearing the clothes of a military man, with the hidden aura of something terrible. The two just stared with loathing taste; they never really liked the guy.

"Well, everyone else is at the coliseum, watching two, unintelligent competitors beat the hell out of each other, so who cares, Hawk!" the woman said with a sneered, "Besides, I have this under control. Why should we need the likes of you helping us?"

The man, Hawk, just smirked and said, "Because, your _gracious_ master thinks that you might need help conquering this terra." Then, he covered his mouth in a chuckle and stated, "Of course, I find it hard to believe she would want to conquer this barbaric piece of rock, especially when these people disregard crystal technology."

The cloaked woman huffed and retorted, "It's because of that our master is looking forward to the invasion. These fools only rely on brute force to win. So, we would be doing the locals a favor. Besides, all of our enemies are here in one place. It would be a perfect time to strike at them while their guard is down."

"Okay then, but remember this: _I _am more powerful than you two combined. So, if you or any of your other _friends_ try to attack me behind my back, I would _personally_ kill each and every one of you." That caused the two siblings to quiver - there was nothing worse than angering someone who was even stronger and worse than the Dark Ace.

* * *

Aerrow's daggers and Rhia's broadsword collided again as the two stepped back from the strikes. So far, it had been pretty even for the two sky knights as they fought in combat, but it seemed the red-haired boy was getting tired. That Thunder-Strike crystal definitely gave her the edge. But he liked this; it was more of a challenge and he liked it.

As the two sky knights fought, their squadrons were having a little competition themselves. They were cheering for their own, even though the two were great allies. It was still a common mystery on how two friends can become bitter enemies when their favorite team was battling against one another in friendly competition. Out of the entire crowd, the Storm Hawks and Thunder Eagles were cheering the loudest.

"Come on, Aerrow!"

"You can do it!"

"That's it, Rhia!"

"Use your crystal attack!"

"ACHOO!!!!"

The group just ducked from the wallop's oncoming sneeze. With the good captain near them, it definitely caused Junko's allergies to act up. To make matters worse, those who had a run-in with the Raider were worried about why he was here - any number of them could be what he really wanted. The only one who wasn't bothered by his presence was Jack, who was just glaring at the pirate.

Back at the battle, the two knights were already down to the last bit of energy. It was in their minds that one final strike would be enough to take the other down. So, simultaneously, the two ran at each other, holding their weapons for the final attack. Then, when they met in the middle, the two swung their weapons at each other, sending crystal blasts at each other. The blasts made their mark as the combatants landed on their feet. There, they stood for several seconds until Rhia fainted from exhaustion - that Thunder-Strike crystal took a lot out of her.

The red head walked over to the wild cat, before struggling to take off her sash. He couldn't help it -those things were tight! It was after a while that he held up the sash, signaling that the fight was over. This caused the crowd to cheer with excitement...all except for the Thunder Eagles, who were disappointed that their leader lost.

"Dang, why does Aerrow always have to win?" Nick asked, sounding a little annoyed. The Storm Hawk then lifted the wild cat back onto her feet; at least he had a nice side to him. Anyway, the two left the stadium, which caused the group of spectators to another problem - making room for the other two patrons. Luckily, the pirate had a solution.

"Since we're going to have more people coming, I suggest that some people should let others sit in their laps. For example, I'm going to let this girly sit in my lap now." he said, just as he reached out to grab Emma. The Gaian noticed it before hiding behind Junko, while Jack pulled out his gun and pointed it at Scabulous. Everyone suddenly froze when seeing that weapon - crystal blasts may have been powerful, but it seemed Gaian guns were lethal.

"You, leave now." the man snarled, as the captain glared back. Then, the Raider looked at the others, who were also glaring at him. He snarled before getting up and walking away. He knew he wouldn't have a chance against their numbers.

"Fine, fine…" he stated, before getting up and walking away. "But I want you to make sure that my opponent is down there when we have our match." he then added, before leaving the stands. The teen brunette groaned, showing that she didn't want to fight him. After that, the pirate left, just as the two sky knights came back up.

The red head watched the leaving buccaneer and then turned to the group sitting, and asked, "Any trouble while we were fighting?" The answer he got was a bunch of heads shaking; at least they were fine without him for a while. Unfortunately, he noticed, "So… There's only one seat, and two of us who aren't seated."

"Three, if Lysander finds where we are," Dawne spoke, causing everyone to raise an eyebrow. They haven't seen the Harrier-lookalike after his match. This cause a few people to be really suspicious of where the blond disappears to. But it was probably just something they shouldn't ponder on too hard.

"Actually, if I change into my kitten form, Aerrow would be able to sit down," Rhia said, as she transformed herself into black-with-blue-streaks kitty. Then, she hopped onto Kihara's lap, purring with content. The teen boy smiled and proceeded to his seat, only to stop and see a familiar fox demon sitting where he was going to sit.

Vireo ate some flame corn that he got before noticing the glares coming from the people he was sitting with. Realizing he had the seat the young sky knight wanted, he simply said, "I'm hiding from my fiancé. I don't want to leave this terra _yet_." The group then sighed, before looking back at the arena again. It was almost time for Tokage and Kuroi's battle.

Several minutes later, the two Dragonkin entered the floor, their weapons unsheathed and ready. The two approached each other, simultaneously like a mirror image. Making it a few feet apart from each other, they bowed, showing their respect and their equality as fighters in the arena. Then, they took their stances, holding their weapons in their correct position. Tokage smiled and said, "Ya ready, Kuroi?"

The black-scaled lizard nodded, showing that he was a little uneasy, but he knew he had to do it. He wanted to prove to everyone that he was strong. The two readied themselves, waiting for the signal to start. Everything went silent for them until the announcer said, "Ready… FIGHT!!!!!!!!" Then, the two rushed at each other and swung their weapons at each other for a counter mirror strike.

For the next several minutes, the two combatants threw counter mirror strikes at one another, letting their weapons test the power of their opponents' strength. They were both trained under the same form that all their kind had learned for ages. As such, they were doing the exact same thing, trying to see if one made a grave mistake. If they did, then they would suffer the consequences.

It seemed the two were near perfection, but Tokage felt great strength from Kuroi's strike, even though it felt restrain. It was strange...Kuroi usually goes all out with his strength, but for him to hold back on a fight, something must have been wrong. Whatever it was, she needed to figure out or else she would never know if she had won an easy victory.

"What's the matter, Kuroi?" the white-scaled lizard taunted, "Afraid of losing?" Her opponent flinched, but this didn't stop him from landing a blow on her katana. He really didn't want to talk about it, as it might make him lose track.

"I'm not afraid of losing," the black-scaled Dragonkin answered, before jumping back from the swing of her katana. "What makes you say that?" This time, he thrust his spear at the lizard, both now getting out of their mimicking. The female reptilian dodged by moving to the side.

"You seem to be weaker than you were with the monsters and with that former champion." Her sword slash was blocked by the white-hair's spear. "Besides, didn't you join this to prove that you were strong?" That was true; but if he did show off his strength, he feared that he might do something he'll regret.

"Yes! I do want to prove I'm strong!" Kuroi answered, kicking at his opponent. She dodged swiftly again, finding that she had hit a nerve. Maybe if she kept up the taunting, it might allow him to unleash his held back power.

"Well, you are looking really weak to me! In fact, when we get home to Terra Ryu, I'm going to tell everyone how you lost to someone who left before she could train some more!" Okay, that was it; the white-haired lizard had enough of this. He was going to fight on full strength, even if it meant hurting Tokage.

The next few strikes from him had really improved in strength, or so the black-haired lizard thought. She blocked and dodged them, but she could feel the power coming from them. Now, she knew she couldn't last a few more minutes if he kept up his strength. So, she knew it was time for her secret weapon. She went into her position in order to perform the ancient technique she was taught.

Kuroi noticed the stance and quickly realized what she was about to do. It was the Dragon Fang, a move that only a few of his people knew. And if Tokage was going to use it, he might as well use his special move, Dragon's Might. He ran to Tokage, striking at her hard, but it was blocked by her sword. Then, the two jumped up into the air, their weapons glowing brightly. Finally, they swung their weapons at each other, creating a powerful shock wave that shook the audience in the stands. It also blinded them, so they couldn't see what happen when the opponents struck each other. Once their eyesight was back, they looked back at the ground to see the two Dragonkin on the ground again, looking exhausted from their attacks.

The black-haired reptilian was about to get up, but was stopped when she noticed her opponent was already up and near her, pointing his spear at her neck. She could see the damage her attack did, but she knew she was outmatched; she already wasted her energy on the Dragon Fang. Sighing, she looked at him and said, "Fine, you win. You really are stronger than we last met."

The male Dragonkin smiled a bit before removing her bandana. Then, he helped her up to her feet, causing the crowd to cheer. He knew she was taunting him only to give it his all, and he was glad. He really hated to be seen as weak. Meanwhile, in the stands, the group's jaws dropped when the attack was pulled off. Finn was the only one who spoke up after the match.

"Dude, I hope Kuroi didn't hear the jokes I made about him behind his back."

* * *

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the long wait! Please don't hurt me… Unless you peeps have soft padding on your weapons.

For disclaimers, I do not own Hawk or Tadeh; Hawk belongs to Hawk-Masters and Tadeh belongs to adzx. I will also put up another character that Hawk-Masters has sent me as well. I hope the next chapter would be quicker than this. Also, if any of you recognize what George and Emma were looking at in the beginning, I don't own those either.

For thank yous, I would like to thank Flame Soldier, SakariWolfe, Hawk-Masters, and NekoNekoMinako for reviewing. I would like to also like to thank NekoNekoMinako for editing this chapter. In fact, for her help, I'm giving her to chance to talk about her new fic, a sequel to the fic we all know and love, _**Project Name: KIRA**_. Take it away, Minako!

*Konnichiwa!! Mina-chan here! First off, I'd like to thank Mahou Shoujo Crystallic Katomi for letting me steal a little space down here, and also that editing her story has been fun. So, the sequel to Project Name: KIRA, which is Dawne's story, is titled Redemption of a Weapon. For those who've already read PNK, I'm happy to announce that there will be more arse-kicking scenes with Dawne, more history behind ATLAB, a little bit more on that budding relationship we had in PNK, and more angsty Aerrow. For those who HAVEN'T read PNK yet...I suggest going over and reading it! NekoNekoMinako saying sayonara!!*

Thank you, and to all the peeps out there:

Please Read and Review!


	10. Chapter 9: The Beatdown

Disclaimer: All characters, settings, concepts, and ideas belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 9: The Beatdown_

"Hey, that Ecakrad guy is up next," remarked Finn, as the group then stared at the arena grounds. After Tokage and Kuroi's battle, they were excited from how the contest was turning out. Besides, this guy was second place in the preliminaries; and with one point under Aerrow, this guy could have tied with the young sky knight. It would be amazing to see how this guy might advance to the next round if he does.

The hooded man entered the arena, staring at the crowds in the stand. Under his hood, he smirked evilly, knowing that these fools had no idea what they had coming. But in the spirit of competitiveness, he would play by their rules… To a point. Once hearing the slamming of the door, he turned to his opponent; the final Roc brother, with his huge claymore.

"Ready… FIGHT!!!!!!!" yelled the announcer, causing the local brawler to head towards his competitor. The other just stood there, watching the bigger man run at him with his weapon held high. Now, everyone knew something was wrong when the cloaked figure stood there. Their fears were realized when he gave a swift, yet bone-crushing punch into the other man's gut.

The crowd gasped and then went silent as they watched their friend stumbled away from the man before falling back, unconscious. Ecakrad just stood over him, wanting to savor the failure of his challenger. Afterwards, he took off the bandana and just stomped it on the ground. A second later, the audience was now booing at hooded male just stood there with pride in his victory.

As the mass continued to jeer, Piper just raised an eyebrow and asked, "I don't get it. He defeated his opponent. Why are they jeering him?" Even though she agreed with them, it didn't seem fair to boo him. Besides, weren't these people fighting-fanatics?

"Piper, three of their locals were in this contest and now, it's just us and anyone else who isn't from this terra." explained Dawne, looking at the man with fear. For some reason, there was something about him that didn't sit right with her. "Besides, if you considered how crazy these locals are about their brawls, that was a bit anticlimactic." It was true, punching a guy in the stomach and then letting him collapse over seemed a little unimpressive to them.

A moment of silence followed, before Rufus got up and said, "Well, I'm off. I'm heading to that fight with that Vezeel gal." He seemed pretty laid back about his first match after the preliminaries. Of course, if he knew who he was really facing, he would have stepped it up a notch. After all, if a person was in it to win it, there was no room for mistakes.

"You better be careful, Rufus." warned Jack, "Since you're also representing Earth, I want our chances of getting whatever the prize is to be a high one." Whatever they were giving out, it might have been something to help the colonists settle into this new world.

"Relax, Jack. She seems real easy to beat." The orange-haired man said, before leaving. The others watched, wondering how someone could underestimate someone who was in the top four. Stork, being the downer that he was, said the only thing that seemed to do his best to set his mood.

"Oh yea, he's doom."

* * *

Vezeel tapped her fingers along her arm, waiting for the opponent to show up. 'He's sure taking his time,' she thought, while listening to the crowds. It seemed that her boss had definitely meant using those stones after seeing him punched the local. Even though she had done more devastating things, she had to admit that was pretty brutal.

Hearing the doors opened, the Eurlian woman looked to see that Gaian man, Rufus, entered to the door, with a knife in his hand. So, she had an easy opponent - this was an interesting twist. Maybe, being the nice person that she was, she would go easy and play with him for a little bit.

"Ready… FIGHT!!!" The two fighters heard the signal before approaching each other in a careful fashion. Then, they started to circle each other, waiting for one of them to attack first. A minute later, the blue-haired woman smirked, coming up with a trick that would let his guard down.

"Hey, hunny," she said in her flirty voice, "How 'bout after this match, we go out for beer? My treat." Normally, Rufus didn't care about going on a date with anyone. But when he heard the key term, beer, he felt his heart jump for joy.

"Really?" he asked, letting his hands down. And that's was the time that he got punched twice in face. He felt dizzy, now seeing three Vezeels instead of the normal one he was fighting. Either he was dizzy, or that woman had learned how to clone herself during the fight. "Hey… You tricked me - that's not fair."

"All's fair in love and war," the woman said, before kicking him in the stomach, "And this is kinda like a war." The Gaian held his stomach while staggering around the arena. He never knew how hard it was to fight without his guns before. But he wanted to win; he and Jack were the only chances to winning whatever that prize was for the PFE.

The man stood up and threw a punch at the blue-haired woman...only to be caught by her hand and then her holding it tight, making him cringed. Next, she put her foot on one of his legs and started to twist his arm to the point where he could feel the bone coming out of his socket.

"You know, if you say pretty please and surrender, I can leave some of your _manly_ dignity intact," Vezeel taunted, causing the man to growl. There was no way he was surrendering now. He was a shoulder, and as thus, he was used to this kind of torturing pain. Of course, she was doing it a little harder than what he was used to.

"No way, missy. Unlike you, me and Jack are in it for the civilians we're protecting," Rufus answered, showing in his face that he was in pain. However, instead of frowning, the Eurlian smirked evilly. Next, she pushed him to the ground and did some moves that were too hard to describe in words. Oh, it wasn't because it was too gruesome for young minds to comprehend - it was because it showed a man losing his pride.

Everyone in the stadium either covered their eyes or just watched with gapping mouths at what the woman did to the man. It was embarrassing, especially for Jack who had selected him for this mission. Oh well, at least his opponent was letting him live…with only a smidgen of life hanging left.

Vezeel took off Rufus' bandana and then held it up in the air, causing the crowds to cheer. This definitely made their day after that last battle. While they cheered, Jack looked over at George, who had received the message the half vampire made with his face.

"… I'll go get the first aid kit," the Britain said before getting up and walking away. As the group watched him leave, they turned their heads back to Rufus, who was now awake and barely crawling back to the entrance. This scared them, especially Emma. She was now having second thoughts on fighting the last match.

"… You know what guys," she started before sinking into her seat, "I'm just going to stay here and let Scabs win. Going to the Mana Pools ain't worth my life." The others just stared, not either shock or disappointed. It was her choice; whether they like it or not. Of course for Stauffenburg, this didn't seem right to him.

"Vhy are you giving up before you even fight?!" he questioned, standing up and pointing his finger at her, "You may be un frauline, but you are un human! You are better than that overgrown pirate! And you show your proud human pride to him in battle!"

After hearing that argument, the young Gaian looked over at the older man and said, "Dude, pride is a deadly sin, especially pride in thinking a certain quality makes people better than others. Why else did we have a second world war? … Or does Germany teach that after they lost?" Not noticing the rage in his eyes, the girl was then grabbed by the colonel and then dragged away from the rest. The others watched as she struggled against the man's grip, but it was to no avail.

"… Should we help her?" asked Aerrow, a little concerned for one of his friend's well-being. As much as he knew that Eric and Emma were from the same world, he didn't know why the two were in conflict except for the fact that they disagreed on human status in the species hierarchy. But other than that, should they be like buddy-buddy now?

Jack just looked at the red head and answered, "He won't hurt her. The worse he might do is going to do is forcing her to fight… Hopefully, she's as good as you say she is." This caused the Storm Hawks to worry a bit; they haven't seen Emma truly in action to support their claim other than her sparring match with Harrier. Thinking optimistically, they just trusted that she'll do better than last time.

"… At least we'll go to the Mana Pools still if she fights," commented Tokage, really excited to see her fight. She had heard that the brunette was a good fighter and now, the Dragonkin would see her in action. This was going to be an interesting last match in the round.

* * *

Emma landed flat on her face as Eric threw her into the arena. 'Oh great, I just hope that pirate doesn't remember about this fight…' she thought, before getting up. That's when she saw him, staring at her with a malevolent smile. She laughed hesitantly, thinking why she made her question to Eric sounded like an insult.

"Ready… FIGHT!!!" Once hearing that, the two started to advance towards the middle, one being more cautious than the other. She knew she wasn't on the same level as her opponent. So, she needed to come up with a plan to at least survive, or she could end up in the hospital.

The good captain started to examine her when the fighters to circle around each other like wolves in a pack-fight. "So… We finally meet again in battle, to finish what we started on that ship." he taunted, referring to the battle they had last time on the Condor. There was no doubt she had gain a little experience after that event. "Unfortunately… I won't be giving you the special treatment like last time." he sneered, before taking out his sword and activating the crystal. That's right; he didn't use his sword last time. Now, she felt like dead meat.

Once the Murk Raider started to swing his sword at the Gaian, she went into a dodging stance. Every time he swung, she would try to move out of the way. Once the crowd took notice of this strategy, they got bored of the swing-and-miss dance. Even some started to complain on how she should fight back. Kuroi was one of the ones who weren't impressed.

"… Didn't you say Emma was a good fighter?" the black-scaled lizard asked, giving Aerrow a glare. He really did want to see the girl at her full ability. But from the way he was seeing, she seemed to be holding back when she should be fighting with everything she's got.

The red head just sweatdropped and answered, "Well, we know she is. We only saw her fight… Once. And she kinda lost…" For some reason, that definitely didn't brighten up the Dragonkin's expression. "… But we do know she was in a lot of scuffles and she did okay with coming out fine… As far as we know…" Come to think of it, they never really questioned how she got out of those. Maybe she wasn't as great a fighter as they thought.

Back down at the arena floor, Scabulous was getting bored of the dodge thing as well. So, he taunted, "Come on, girly. I bet you really want to give me a real good punch after all the hell I put you through. Like the time I put my pistol up to your slim neck." Emma felt angry remembering that moment, but shook it off. He was trying to get her angry so she could do something stupid and get killed for it.

"I'm not that stupid." she said back, in a tired voice, "I know you're going to attack me when I make a move at you, you're going counter-strike. And I think I could get something fatal since I'm not wearing armor nor do I have a weapon to block with." Oh, so that was the problem. It was time for this pirate to teach her a lesson.

"You _think_? Kid, this is a fight! Thinking may be a factor, but it is small compare to using instincts!" he said, before getting ready to swing his sword again. For this, the girl was about to jump back until he spoke, "And since I know you're going to dodge another _normal_ strike, I'm doing this instead." The Raider swung his sword, but instead of hitting the teen with the sword itself, it shot out a purple, energy slash, nearly neigh impossible to dodge. She got hit, falling back and getting a little dizzy. The crowd sympathized with her.

Once Emma shook off her wooziness, she now stared at an oncoming stab and quickly moved her body to the side. She was about to get up until another sword swing made her fall back down. She gulped; this was it. There was nothing she could, but she could distinctly hear a small voice in her head was at least telling her to fight back. It was either that or the crowd yelling really loud that could break anyone's ear drum.

Suddenly, the girl just snapped. This burning emotion she felt was exactly the same as when she fought against Repton. While the pirate was about to strike her again, she quickly stood up and when the two were face to face, she punched him in the stomach. He stumbled back whilst she held her hand in pain. 'God, that smarts!' she thought, before hearing some laughter. The teen went back into her fighting-form turned her body towards her opponent, only to see him smiling; bad sign.

"That's it! That's what I want to see!" Scabulous said, before standing straight. Afterwards, the two started to duke it out, the girl dodging still but throwing a punch or a kick whenever she could. Now, this was the fight people wanted to see in the last match. The crowd started to cheer with excitement as the fighters continued their little brawl. Even the group was now cheering for the human to win.

It was at the few last moments that got really surprising. They didn't know how it was pulled off since the teen looked pretty tired, but it happened. Once seeing a break in defense, she threw a punch at the Raider with all her might, aiming at the chest. He took notice and squat down for a dodge-and-slash at her mid-section. Unfortunately, it was a little late, and instead of missing completely, she whammed him right in the face with striking force. The captain flew back a little and landed on his back, looking dazed from the hit. Emma went back to her usual stance before gulping. Knowing that she was going to pay for this sooner or later, she just stood there before saying, "Eep."

The crowd took notice of this defeat, and seeing her in a daze state, they yelled, "GET THE SASH!!!!" She snapped out of her dread, and then she carefully walked over to the knocked-out pirate, being cautious of whatever he was hiding up his sleeve. Once reaching an inch away from the body, she bent down, warily removing the sash until it was safe to say that the figure was of no threat. After getting it, she held the symbol for the tournament, causing the crowd to cheer once more. She couldn't help but smile - she was proud of her achievement, even though it was a fluke.

Scabulous woke up and stared up at the human who had beaten him. Now, to those who knew of his nature, he would have grabbed her and taken her back to her ship. But he just simply stood up and left for the locker room...there were too many witnesses anyway. Getting to the room, he went into shock into seeing who was there. Why was that woman, whom he had scuffles with before, here now?

"Hmph, so the great pirate is even beatable to a small, Gaian girl," Tadeh solemnly said, causing the pirate to growled in response. He didn't have time for whatever this woman had to say; he had better things to do. She just shrugged before stating, "You know you could have won if you didn't go easy on her."

The captain smiled, seeing that someone has seen through his ruse, and told her, "I didn't want to damage the goods. Besides, why win something when you can steal it instead?" The woman just smirked at his statement, just like a thief to think like that. "Now, with that settle, what do you want with me?"

The Eurlian just stood there in silence before saying, "Nothing much… Just wanted to see the look on your face when you lost." This caused the Raider to become anger as she left the locker room. Oh well, he will get his chance. And soon, not only will he have the prize and the Gaian, but he will also have the other treasures that this terra had.

* * *

Emma walked out of the locker room, only to be tackled by almost everyone except for the other Gaians and the fox demon. She cringed; feeling those scars' aftermath as the group hugged her tightly. She made it out fine and they were still had the same look on their faces when she was dodging. Why did people worry about her even when she was older than them? … In a way, with some of them.

"Emma! You did it! You won!" praised Tokage as she hugged the brunette, "… Even though you seem that you didn't know what you were doing in the beginning." The human laughed hesitantly; she wanted to figure out how these rumors of her being a good warrior get started. At least it wasn't going to get any worse.

Unfortunately, that thought didn't prove true when Vireo blurted out, "Yea, for a Gaian, you sure act a little different than the warriors that first tried to conquer Atmos." The group turned with shock at what the fox demon just said; the Storm Hawks more-so than the others. He blinked before saying, "Well, she does smell the same as the other Gaians and she is wearing strange clothes." The others looked back at the older teen, who was as pale as a sheet as she stood there. So, that meant that what he said was true.

There were several seconds of silence between everyone as they looked away nervously. They had mixed emotions on her secret and were also thinking about why she kept it from them. Azure the merb was the only one who walked up to her and opened the human's mouth with her hands. The blue merb started to examine her mouth before saying, "S-She doesn't have that disease/poison sack that the elders always talked about."

With that stated, Emma went into a paralyzed shock until the group swarmed her by touching her body and asking her a ton of questions. It was almost enough to drive anyone nuts. As she was bombarded, the other Gaians watched, confused by how the local-worlders were reacting to her like this. The only one who seemed to have an answer was George.

"Maybe it's because she kept it a secret from them…I don't know why though, these people are very friendly," the British boy said, raising an eyebrow at the metaphorical carnage going on. After a few seconds, the group sweatdropped and the brunette said, "… Maybe we should help her out."

Jack looked at the younger and said, "You guys help her. I need to do something here." The three men nodded before heading off to get her out of the mob. Once they were out of hearing distance, the half vampire looked into the shadows and asked, "What do you think?" Suddenly, another man, well pass his prime, came out of the darkness, wearing black trench coat over a black uniform. He was a little bit taller and buffer than the American with black hair that was streaked with white that was covered by a baseball like cap with a hammer and sickle inside a red star, and cold blue eyes. On his face, there was a scar running down to his right cheek. He just stared at the other with an icy look on his face.

After a second, he breathed in and said, in a little bit of a Russian accent, "Well, it seems we have some powerful allies after seeing them fight on the field. It looks like we have chosen the right side after all." Afterwards, he looked back at the mob and stated, "But I'm not sure if they trust us being here."

"The entire world may not trust us, but these people do; even if this so-called "myth" is true or not," the younger man said, looking at the mob as well. He still didn't know what the story between his home world and Atmos was anyway. But he did hope that it wouldn't put a damper on relations. "… Other than that, anything else, Ingo?"

The Russian man, Ingo, looked at Jack and spoke, "Yes, Jack, you should be very careful… There have been sightings of a man resembling Hawk around here. And since you and the other helped defeated his army, he might come after you, along with anyone else in leagues with us."

… Well, that put a damper on his day.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Again, sorry for the wait. It IS getting close to summer after all. But I'll still try my best to post the new chapters as soon as possible.

So, this is the end of the 1st round and there is going to be another break like I did a few chapters ago! If any of you guys have some ideas of what will happen, please send them to me and I'll review over to see which ones will be good and put them up.

Also, thank you Hawk Masters, SakariWolfe, Flame Soldier, azdx, and Kitten2007 for reviewing! And for NekoNekoMinako for editing this chappy. You guys are great! Confetti for all!

Please Read and Review!


	11. Chapter 10: Training and Hunger Pains

Disclaimer: All characters, places, concepts, and ideas belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 10: Training and Hunger Pains_

To those who believe in magic, Mana is believed to be not only the source of it but the source of all life itself. Every plant, every creature, everything in this and other universes has a little bit of this life force in their hearts and souls. The only difference for the people to use this miraculous power and those who don't is the amount of Mana their bodies possess in order to use magic. Even though the existence of Mana hasn't been proven true or not, the Mana Pools were really a wonder for Terra Colussmis and its inhabitants.

Emma quickly got into the famous springs and instantly felt rejuvenated after that battle she had plus the crazy mob afterwards. Once wriggling out of everyone that figured out she was a Gaian, she quickly went back to the Condor to grab one of Piper's swimsuits so she could relax with some modesty. Even if the tanned girl was a smaller size than her, it was amazing how the one-pieced fit her, which she didn't complain about. Now, for forty-five minutes of intermission, she was going to relax all by herself. Unfortunately, that peaceful loneliness was shattered when the brunette heard the footsteps.

"I thought I find you here," said Tokage, as the human stared at the Dragonkin's swimwear; it was a black two-piece with a strapless top. As the black-haired lizard hopped in next to her, the girl looked down with shame. It was mostly of how her secret was found-out before she could tell them at a more appropriate time. The reptilian probably thought of her as deceitful and untrustworthy. After a few minutes, the older one looked at her and asked, "Why didn't you tell us you were a Gaian when we first met? You now know Kuroi and I respect them very much."

The brunette sighed before staring at the lizard, already knowing she was going to regret it. "Because whenever someone finds out about my heritage, it is either use, capture, or kill me." she answered, remembering the times when people found out. That caused Tokage to laugh a little bit. "Besides, there's also the war between Atmos and Gaia. I doubt that the people here would be so forgiving to someone who ancestors were to blame for a terrible war and the uprising of Cyclonia." That definitely made it difficult to make any friends in this world.

"That may be true," the white-scaled Dragonkin said, before stating, "But that was a long time ago; the humans here has past it off as a myth. Besides, the Alliance Stone, the only human way to tell if someone is a Gaian, was lost ages ago. So, in a way, you could fit into modern society." The human raised an eyebrow in annoyance. Somehow, being conformed wasn't part of her personality. "Anyway, if you and those other Gaians are here on Atmos, Cyclonia is sure to fall."

That definitely caused the girl to pale, as she gulped, "Look, you saw me out there. I'm not like those great fighters you had heard in the myths. Besides, Atmos already has the sky knights and Storm Hawks. Why should Gaians be part of this conflict?" As much as she was living with the Storm Hawks, she was trying her best to remain neutral and not get involved in conflicts between the factions. Of course, the output effect of each choice of trying to stay out always ends up with her making it worse.

"Well, the Storm Hawks and sky knights may fight against the Talons; but it is the indissoluble spirit of the Gaians in those myths that gives them the undying courage to face the tyrannical empire each day. Though the humans of Atmos may not see it, Gaians may be an important part to this world whether they are in it or not." The lizard explained as she looked up at the sky. Then, she looked over at the human and said, "You're a pretty good fighter as well. You just need to train if you want to beat your opponent in the next round."

The girl soon paled even more, remembering now who she was going to fight next. It was Ecakrad; the man who defeated his opponent with one blow to the stomach. It was going to be a lot worse for her since she wasn't that built. But she wasn't going give up since she already beaten the leader of the Murk Raiders. So, her plan to defeat the next one was, "Stay in this pool and hope that the Mana in here helps me get powers."

The black-haired Dragonkin just blinked in confusion, before laughing. "Nonsense; this is just for relaxation after your last brawl. Kuroi and I are going to help you so you can have at least a fighting chance." And just like that, the naked lizard stood out and started to walk out. Emma sighed before sinking even deeper into the water. Well, so much for relaxation.

* * *

Lysander woke up as if he had a bad dream. This time, he was in an alleyway far from the coliseum. Now, he knew he wasn't much of a drinker for reasons unknown. And due to the annoyance he had been getting about not having memories from before and in between the contest, he felt that the blackouts were getting infuriating.

"Oh, there you are," said a familiar yet flirty voice, as the blonde turned to see that Vezeel woman wearing a… Well, it was a black dress, but it showed up her figure, especially around the hips and chest. For his cold body, he felt a little warm, particularly when she started to walk forward towards him. This was definitely a bad sign.

Once stopping a few feet from him, the blue-haired woman leaned forward and asked, "So, what do you think of my new dress? I was planning on showing it off when I win the tourney. So, does this make my butt too big?" She showed off her sexy backside. "Or my hips too wide?" She showed up her sexy hips. "Or is it too tight around my chest?" She showed off her sexy chest, which bounced a little. The man went a little hotter, wondering why she was asking him for his opinion.

"Well… I-I don't remember much about ladies' woman since I'm an old man," he stated, wondering how he came with that. Well, he didn't seem much older than her, but he felt like he was old. The Eurlian just blinked before giggling. Now, he felt really uncomfortable.

"You can't be _that_ much older than me?" she said, as she placed her arms behind his neck. "I'm only 54 years old." He gulped, wondering why she didn't look fifty-four, before she pulled him into her huge chest. Now, he was starting to feel violated.

A few seconds about thinking what to say, Lysander quickly spoke, "I'm sure this is certainly against the Code." Again, he didn't know where that came from. But now, he was hoping that would stop the woman from whatever she was doing.

Vezeel smirked slyly before asking, "Oh, and is this the same Code that is against this as well?" Then, she started to lean forward towards the blonde, her lips puckering up. It wasn't before long that he knew what she was doing, which caused some alarm to his heart.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

* * *

Dawne raised an eyebrow, thinking she had heard someone screamed. The others must have heard it too as they looked around to see where it came from. Suddenly, Lysander ran over and hid behind the silverette, looking much paler than usual. Under his breath, he muttered, "W-woman… F-f-frightening… E-evil…" It wasn't before long that Vezeel appear with an annoyed look on her face.

"Oh come on, Lysander. How can you consider a kiss evil?" she teased, causing everyone to laugh at the older man's embarrassing moment. He didn't consider kissing evil; he just considered her method of kissing evil. The group continued to laugh until they heard a cough. That's when they turned Jack and the other Gaians. Oh yea, they wanted to explain something to the group.

Once everyone was quiet, the black-haired man pulled up a hologram projector of human and explained, "This is Hawk Masters; one of the more dangerous threats to Atmos and enemy to the PFE. He was with us for a while until he betrayed us. He is now head of New American Empire and recently has gained an alliance with Cyclonia." To those who have seen the man, they shivered with fear. But to Vireo, he was confused as to why this was important.

"Excuse me, but why should we worry about some measly human?" the fox demon asked, causing the Chancellor to glare at him. It didn't bother him that this human wasn't dangerous. However, this person _wasn't _human.

"One: Hawk has been seen around here. And two: he isn't human." Ingo said, as the hologram then switch to a monstrous mechanical figure that looked like General Grievous. The crowd stared with horror, especially the ones who already saw him like that. "He is what some scientists call an Atlantian, which is an immortal robot that likes to eat humans as its diet. Adding to the fact he likes to torture people who are in love with each other, Hawk is up in the top ten of villains."

That was when the half-vampire coughed and lectured, "Which brings us to the guidelines I want to discuss: Don't go off by yourself. If anyone has some important business they must do, at least bring someone who is capable with you. If you are ever confronted by Hawk, don't fight him; just run away and tell one of us about it. Any questions?" Everyone shook their heads no, which gave him a little relief.

"Now with that done, We can all-!" Suddenly, Jack clenched him stomach as if he was hungry. Oh no, it was that _time_ again. Oh, how he hated being a blood-sucker.

Everyone noticed his hunched figure as Aerrow asked, "Are you alright?" He had seen Jack in this mode; and to his experience, it was best to leave well enough alone. Also, someone should get him a blood pack right now.

The man just looked at the young sky knight, sweating with hunger. "Yea, I'm fine… I just need to get some blood." he answered, before heading towards his hotel. That caused the Atmosians, except for Vireo, to be alarm. They didn't want to be tasty snack.

George noticed their concern and calmly said, "Don't worry. As long as Jack gets the blood packs at the 'otel, 'e'll be back to normal. Right, Rufus?" There was an awkward silence until the British adult figured it out and yelled, "Rufus! You were supposed to bring some blood packs with you in case Jack was in 'is time!" That caused everyone to slap their foreheads. Now, they had a blood-thirsty half vampire on the loose.

"Sorry; I thought it would be a while until he needed blood." apologized Rufus before back-sassing, "Anyway, why didn't you bring any if you knew I didn't!" The brunette was about to retort before feeling sheepish. He should have known the orange-haired American might forget and should have brought some with him when he came… Oh wait, he did bring some for medical reasons. Hopefully, it would be enough to get Jack by without hurting the chances of saving someone.

"Well, I did. But it's back on the ship. I'll go get it." And just like that, George headed off to get the blood. As the others watched, they knew what they had to do. Though some didn't like it, the group had to find Jack before he found a delicious victim to drink.

This was when Aerrow took charge and commanded, "Okay, guys; split up into teams and let's go find Jack." And so, the group split up into teams; Rhia with her Thunder Eagles, Vireo with Finn and Stauffenburg, Dawne with Zack, Aerrow, and Ingo, Piper with Stork and Junko, and lastly, Vezeel, Rufus, and Lysander. For the last group, Vezeel wanted to be near Lysander, which spooked the blonde, and Rufus wanted a rematch with the Eurlian woman.

_Bonk!_ … Unfortunately, it was short-lived.

* * *

Tadeh wondered through the town, amazed by how primitive yet fascinating the terra was. The people were probably the closest thing to cavemen, yet they have been living their lives for thousands of years alone without the use of crystals or skimmers. They use their own strength to survive, which may seem neigh-impossible to the considering how many had tried that and then changed with technology. There must something else influencing this terra; something powerful…

Her thoughts on what was influencing the terra were quickly interrupt when she noticed a group of Murk Raiders, including their captain and first mate. They were all watching something, probably some rotating mutton. But once she moved into a more viewable position, she saw an almost hilarious site. The girl who defeated Scabulous was doing push-ups with five medium-sized stones on her back while being overseer by the two Dragonkin. The funny part was that the two reptilians were trying shoo the pirates away but to no avail.

"There are plenty of other Gaians. Why must you constantly pick on this one?" questioned Tokage, crossing her arms and glaring at the buccaneers. She could understand the difficulty the human girl had living in this world with them constantly hunting her down. There was no way the young teen could enjoying her experience on Atmos.

The captain just smirked before answering, "Because she's an easy target." Once spoke, the Raiders started to laugh, and the girl fell down from either exhaustion or insults. Tadeh laughed a bit, knowing that if the Gaian was really an _easy_ target, why haven't they gotten it yet? Maybe to add more to her fun, she might help the young human with her training, just to rattle Scabulous' nerves.

"Well, you shouldn't be saying that, since she manage to dodge your attempts to capture her," the Eurlian stated, causing everyone to stare at her. The pirates all gasped before hiding cowardly behind their captain who leered with anger. The other three just raised an eyebrow in confusion when she offered, "Since you two are training her against Ecakrad, maybe I could give you a few pointers."

Kuroi was suspicious of her, and asked, "Why do you want to help? We have things under control; we're just helping her getting stronger." The woman just walked over to them and looked down at Emma. It would be fun to see if the little pipsqueak might be able to defeat the "mysterious" man. Besides, anyone who could last long and win when facing the leader of the Murk Raiders deserves to have the advice she needs.

"Strength is nice. But if you _really_ want to win, you need to have a strong defense." The blue-haired woman said, as she examined the Gaian lying on the ground. "… No matter how strong you get, that man will take you down with one blow if you get punch." Then, lifting up the girl, she continued, "The trick is to withstand the pain, and in order to do that, you must be accustom to the intensity of the pain." With that said, she looked at the black-scaled lizard and demanded, "Now, you punch her in the torso area because that will be the big knock-out area."

"Wait, why don't we just-!" Emma tried to compromised, before she could have a say, the white-haired Dragonkin punched her stomach using all his force he could muster. She cringed with pain until she fell on the ground, grasping her stomach. The two reptilians looked shocked as she curled into a fetal position.

"Emma, are you okay?!" a very concern Tokage asked as the Gaian human was in lying on the ground. They really didn't want to hurt her _that much_. Her race always said that a Gaian's stomach was as hard as steel.

The brunette looked up and answered in a meek voice, "I'm fine… Just be glad that I have a stubborn nature." That caused all the pirates to laugh out loud. The others just stared at them, wondering why they were laughing in the first place; it wasn't really that funny. Their little scene caught the eyes of Vireo, Finn, and Stauffenburg as the three came over at stared down at Emma.

"Dude, Emma, what happen?" asked the sharpshooter, sounding a little worried. He was concern about the girl since she was lying on the ground. At least Jack didn't get to her, thank Atmos.

Tadeh looked over at the blonde Atmosian and answered, "Oh, she's fine. She was just training with the Dragonkin for her next match." That gave some relief to the group; all except for Stauffenburg, whose own prejudice towards all nonhuman species was still in his heart.

"Vhy should she train by those vile lizards?! She ischt much better dan dem!" argued the German Colonel, causing the two lizards to be angry yet confused by his ideals. Emma was angry also; the Dragonkin respected their race, which was more than enough from the other races of Atmos as far as she knew. But before anyone could say anything, the blue-haired woman was the one who vented.

"You should be glad she's wants to train with someone other than her own race; people who are close-minded about who helps them miss out on experiences that might help in their life." Tadeh breathed in before speaking, "This girl accepts these lizard humanoids and yet, you mock how they are "weaker" than the human race. I haven't seen you fight against them, so what makes you so sure that humans are the better species?"

The man turned pale before shouting, "Because ve are! And it ischt not just dat; anyone vho is for crystal technology is noding better dan dhe nonhuman themselves! Vhy should I accept diese when I already have made up my mind?"

"… Because even the ugliest nonhumans_ are_ much better looking than you," Scabulous said, as the Murk Raiders started to laugh again. This got on the German's nerve, in which instead of taking out his gun, he stomped off in rage; he had better things to do than to kill pirates. Once he was out of hearing range, Finn was about to flirt until Stauffenburg came back, grabbed the blonde teen's ear, and left. Vireo just followed the two, smirking that someone had told off the older human. Emma smiled as well before seeing Tadeh's serious face staring at her.

"As for you," the blue-haired woman said as she picked up the Gaian, "Don't see humanity as a bad thing; see it as the strength to make something better." The young girl was confused by her words. The Eurlian then handed a black, lead jacket over to Tokage and spoke, "Make the girl wear this under her clothing and then continue with the training." That didn't sound too well with the brunette as she paled. The pirates smirked evilly; this was going to fun.

* * *

Jack wondered through the streets, hungry for blood. He was almost to his hotel, however, his vampire instincts were starting to take over. Thankfully, his human side was keeping his control from biting a random person off the streets; he didn't think these people would take too kindly to his appetite. Of course, it wouldn't be long before he could lose control.

A few moments later, in a small alleyway, the black-haired man saw a teenage Goth/Victorian wearing girl just standing there, looking away from the crowds. To him, this was perfect; why go back to the inn when he could have such a lovely human right now when no one was looking? He carefully snuck up to her, making sure she wasn't startle. Once he was up to her and before she could turn around, he bit her on the neck and began drinking her blood. It tasted delicious as his vampiric instincts started to take over, definitely better than the packs from the blood bank.

Once he had his fill, his human senses came back to his mind and then stared at the girl; his face grimaced at the sight. First, the man was shock at what he had done, then disgusted by how he could done this to a young kid. Hopefully, he didn't drank too much in which it would have lead to-

"VICTORIA!!!!" yelled a voice, as the chancellor turned to see another black-haired man wearing black gothic-suit, who looked very concern for her well-being. The "younger" man ran over to the girl while pushing Jack out of the way, put a red crystal to her and asked, "Victoria, my darling, are you okay?" The girl opened her eyes and nodded, the Gaian amazed by how fast she recovered. However, he went into an emotion of depression when the other man glared at him.

"How dare you bite my pet?! Her blood is mine and mine alone; not some halfling's who has been turned that way by" he spat, "Science. Now, if I see you near my Victoria again, I swear, I shall do worse to you and your kin." And with that, he left along with the girl. The half-vampire just stared as the girl looked back at him. He raised an eyebrow as he thought he saw the teen mouthed something. At least he had his fill of blood for the month.

Soon after the incident, Jack noticed George, who noticed him as well. His British friend then ran up to him and said, "Jack, are you back to normal? How did you get blood when Rufus forgot to bring them?" For some reason, that didn't surprise the black-haired man. However, did he really want to say he drank some possessive guy's girl? … Maybe later he could tell when his head wasn't feeling fuzzy.

"I'll tell you later, right now, let's head back to the coliseum. I don't want to miss out on my fight." he said, as the two went to walk over to the arena, with the black-haired man taking out a cigar and smoking it. Even though, he was the second match, he knew that he needed to be prepared. If the teen girl he just met had any common sense, she would back out of the fight before she would end up in a hospital or the death bed.

* * *

Ten minutes before the match, and the Dragonkin were staring at the beat-down form of Emma. After grueling training, which was just punches at her gut, she was on the ground, feeling a little sick. It was at that point that she groaned, "Guys… Maybe I should just surrender?"

"But, Emma, we worked so hard. You want to throw all of that away?" asked Tokage, who looked very disappointed. The brunette felt a little guilty, but she had a good reason. Maybe they'll understand anyway.

"I don't, but this is a matter of safety. That man took down a strong, healthy male in one blow. What do you think he'll do to me?" she asked, as the two lizards went into a sympathetic mode. The human wasn't like the Gaians in the legends, so she did have a higher risk of getting hurt. The two sighed and were about to say something until they all heard a flutter of feathers.

Everyone turned to the sound and saw a Mynall bird sitting on a window sill, staring at the group. "That's a Mynall bird! They say seeing one will bring good fortune," Tokage said, sounding excited to see one. The Gaian groaned, thinking about how a bird that was supposed to bring fortune always seemed to make her life difficult. That's when she noticed that there was something in its beak. It was shiny and was black, and it was-

"MY NINJA BANDANA!!!!" she yelled, before getting up and charging at the bird, "GIMME!" It noticed the charge and started to fly away, with Emma chasing after it. The reptilians just stood there, blinking at what just happened. Strange how quickly the human got her second wind?

Kuroi looked at their path and spoke, "The two seem to be heading to the arena… We should follow after them." And after that, both white-scaled and black-scaled Dragonkin started to walk back to the stadium. They were hopeful that the next round would be better than the last.

* * *

"You're going to _kill_ your next opponent?!" exclaimed the cloaked woman, as Ecakrad was putting Enhancer Stones on his legs and feet. Those two, along with Hawk and the brawnier hooded man were in the hallways of the arena, watching their leader set himself up for the next round. "Are you sure you want to risk our mission in order to take down an insignificant threat?"

"It is not a risk if I make it look like it was an accident," the man said, as he turned his attention to the group. "Besides, if we start taking out our enemies, we should start out with the weakest one in an official match. That way, no one would suspect anything in the beginning." That sounded plausible since there was no way a small, weak girl could survive against his enhanced attacks. The slimmer cloaked man then noticed Vincent with his pet coming up and greeted, "Hello, Vincent, have you seen Vezeel?"

The vampire just glared at the group, before shouting, "Yes, I've seen her! She's with that group with the Harrier-lookalike and the half vampire that bite my Victoria when she is mine! He should be glad I had this meeting or else I would shift into my more terrifying form and kill him." Everyone sighed; it seemed Vezeel's loyalty was still in question. As for the half-vampire bit, that caught the attention the attention of a certain cyborg.

"Wait, you say a half-vampire? As in Jack the half-vampire?" Hawk asked, seeing the gothic man nodding in response. Then, he turned to Ecakrad and angrily asked, "Why didn't you tell me Jack was going to be here? I would so love to capture him for torture before the first round." The others just groaned at his remark; the Atlantean seemed to like killing and torture a lot.

"We didn't tell you because this is a _low_ profile mission, as in making sure _**no one**_ know what we're doing yet," the leader said, gnashing his teeth. "Besides, stealing any of them might cause some high suspicion among the others. It is best to kill them off one-by-one in a match by _accident_. That way, we'll have the upper hand in conquering this terra." And with that said, no one disagreed with him. However, there were a couple of people who disagree with his plan.

As the group started to leave for the stands, the cloaked man just stared at the Enhancer Stones, smirking evilly at his plan. This was where he was going to fight with her in a real match. After all, it was about time she learned that dumb luck wasn't going to be there to save her.

* * *

"GIMME BACK MY HEAD BAND, YA STUPID BIRD!!!" the Gaian yelled as she burst through the doors, still trying to catch the bird as it flew with speed over the coliseum walls. She, however, didn't have wings and so was set to follow on foot across the radius of the arena. Once on the fighting grounds, the brunette noticed her Missing-nin bandana on the ground and quickly rushed over to grab it before anyone else could. Snuggling for having it back, she was content until the hearing of the cheers made her a little bit queasy.

The girl looked around at the people in the stadium, before realizing how much in trouble she was in. She was about to leave until she heard the opening of the opposite doors. She turned back to see her opponent, Ecakrad, who was smirking under his hood. She gulped before realizing that she was in deep.

Then, she cursed mentally to the Stork and her hunger for ramen.

* * *

Sorry! Gomen! I was late with this update due to me slacking and other outside problems. Since this is summer, there might be slow updates but I promise to try my best to keep up with these.

Anyway, you can see the plot developing in this chapter, as well as for Easter eggs for the coming future chapters. If you have any theories, you can blurt them out. But I'm not telling anything unless you bug a lot.

I would like to thank Hawk-Masters, Flame Soldier, and azdx for reviewing. I would also like to thank HM for betaing this chapter since this doesn't show any official fights. Anyway, I hope you guys praise him for editing this.

Anyway, please Read and Review!


	12. Chapter 11: Indomitable Spirit

Disclaimer: All characters, places, concepts, and ideas belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 11: Indomitable Spirit_

Thirty second into the match and still, the two fighters hasn't made a move on each other yet. It seemed the two weren't willing to take a risk a counter-attack for a free hit. This caused some friction among the stands as Colussmis's population was shouting out of impatience. However, the same crowd of the Storm Hawks, Thunder Eagles, and others just looked at the arena, paling; except for Stork, who had on his "I knew it" face. This was going to end badly.

Both Kuroi and Tokage came up to the group and the white-scaled lizard asked, "Have you seen Emma?" It was a few seconds before Piper pointed down at the fighting grounds, causing the two reptilians to look down at the stand-off. This produced intrigued to the two as the female stated, "So, she decided to fight after all… She definitely has some courage."

"Either that, or stupidity," Lysander said, as he stared at the arena. Going into battle without armor or weapons was pretty stupid in his book, especially if fighting someone that can easily do damage without breaking a sweat. Of course, he remembered vaguely about going to battle and being outmatch. However, he felt he did it out of nobleness, not out of getting something out of it.

He then instantly felt extremely uncomfortable when Vezeel rubbed against his body and said, "Come on, Lysandy, I think she's pretty brave for facing up against him instead of running out of town." The Eurilian didn't care if her "boss" beat the snot out of his opponent or not; she just wanted to see a good battle.

Back on the combat floor, the Gaian was still standing there, frozen with fear, even though she wasn't showing it. She was now standing face-to-face with the man who can easily sign her death warrant in one blow and she wasn't doing anything about it. Her mind was practically yelling at her to get the armband off, but her body wasn't responding with any movement.

With Ecakrad, he only just stood there and smirked. He knew that the girl wouldn't take a chance to fight against someone who was stronger than her, especially when she could counterattack if he attacks first. This is why it was so easy for him now; thanks to the break, he now had Enhancers on his legs, which can now make him run at a speed that would make it seem like he was teleporting and kick with the force of a rocket. It was best to test his theory now before his opponent could surrender.

The hooded man took a running step forward, which ended up inches from the brunette's face. This caused her shock about how opened she was. But before she could even block, the man threw a powerful punch at her abdomen, making her spit from the force. She then stumbled back several feet before landing on her stomach, lying down in a lifeless motion.

The crowd went into silent before booing at Ecakrad again. This was just like his last match, only he did to someone who was weaker than her. The outsiders just gasped in horror; by the way their friend lay on the ground, it seemed that she lost something else besides the match.

A few seconds later, Emma's body started to move before she lifted her head to see that her opponent was already taking in the negativity the crowd was producing. She then grabbed her stomach and groaned; she should have surrender before getting punched. She shifted her head towards the hand that held her Naruto Missing-Nin band and then began thinking. Did she really want to go down like this, just being a push-over? After a second, she turned serious and thought, 'No.'

The jeering stopped as the crowd watched the brunette struggled to get up on her own feet. Ecakrad noticed also when he noticed the mob going silent and turned around to see her almost standing. Once, but shaking, on her own two feet, the girl put her once-tied headband on her head and then stood there with a determined face. He sneered; just like a cockroach, a pest and for some reason, impossible to take down.

The man went back to beating her up in a one-sided battle while the crowd watched. Hit after hit, each blow was as hard as air-pressured rock. But every time his opponent went down, she would get right back up; of course, it was getting harder and harder for her to stand. It was definitely too much for her and her friends to bear, as the red-haired sky knight stood up and said, "That's it; I getting Emma out of this."

He was about to get up before Kuroi stopped him and said, "You can't, Aerrow. It's against the rules." The boy was shocked and angry before the Dragokin explained, "Do you know why the officials put up that the "No-Killing" rule? Last year, a wife of a competitor stood in the way of a fighter's sword and got killed instead. That's why if you go down there, not only would get her disqualified, but you as well… Of course," the male lizard looked back down at the brawl, "By the way he's attacking, he might be disqualified as well." The rest of the gang looked back to see how their friend was exhausted from the blows. It looked like that her challenger was out for blood.

Another punch came in her face as she fell back down to the ground. However, she struggled to stand up as blood tinkled down her face. Ecakrad snarled before approaching her. She _**was **_going die, whether he get disqualified in the process or not. He approached her, fist raised in the air and was about to deliver the final blow. However, his attack did not make its mark.

A shot was heard and suddenly, the man started to clench his hand. Whatever had happened, it clearly destroyed the Enhancer on the hand that he was going to punch the pest with. Oh well, whoever did this was definitely an ally, but her/his intentions were too late since she the Gaian looked on the edge of death. The hooded man just took off her bandanna on her arm and waited for the crowd's reaction.

It was quiet in a few moments before the audience started to cheer. The cloaked man was terribly confused since he was expecting negative shouts from them. It was only when he turned around that he saw the teen girl, though hunched and limped, walking back towards the locker room, pretty much alive. He growled in response before walking the opposite way. Like before, he still thought of her as a cockroach.

Up in the stands, the others just stared with gapping mouths. That was… Interesting for seeing their friend taking a beating like that. However by the way she was walking, she took more than what she could take. This looked like a job for a doctor, and luckily, George stood up and said, "I'll go check up on 'er. It looks like she needs medical attention."

"I'll go too." Tokage said as she stood up as well, "She needs to be congratulated on her battle." The two started head down to the locker room, leaving the others who were still in awed. For someone who had said that she was weak, standing up to that man took a lot of guts and maybe a few short of brain cells. Of course, something still bothered them. How was she able to stand after the first punch?

* * *

Once making it back to the locker room, Emma quickly fell to her knees and then lifted up her shirt to reveal her still wearing the lead jack that strange woman gave her. She smiled weakly; it was like that woman knew the girl was a lot weaker than her opponent. She would have to thank her if she ever saw the woman again. Her thoughts were then interrupted when the door opened to reveal Tokage and George.

"Emma, are you okay?" the white-scaled Dragonkin asked, before running over and hugging the Gaian. It only took a few moments for the girl to comprehend what was happening before nodding in response; she felt tired and wanted to rest now. That lifted up the reptilian's spirits. The human guy in the room, however, just sighed in disappointment.

"Then, what the 'ell were you thinking?!" the Britain said, giving the brunette a stern look. "You should 'ave thrown your bandana off before getting seriously 'urt! What were you trying to prove?!" That definitely got her depressed as she looked down. She didn't what she was thinking half the time; she usually went with the flow of things. Somehow, it overrode her common sense.

Seeing the distress, the black-haired lizard petted her head and said, "But it was definitely better than the first round. You at least deserve some credit of going longer than you thought with him." That was true; the human did go longer than one punch and lived. That's when she felt she was being lifted and set upon one of the benches. Then, George started to examine her body for damage.

After a few minutes, he concluded, "A couple of broken rib bones, some external bleeding around the abdomen and 'ead area, and maybe some internal bleeding. Luckily, wherever you got that undergarment saved your life." Then, he looked over at Tokage and said, "You can go back up to the others. I'm just going to do my best to patch her up until I get the IV from the ship to give her blood if there is internal bleeding." The Dragonkin nodded before heading back up to stands. The young boy just went to his medical supplies he brought with him in order to get bandages. The teen girl just watched before hearing a flutter of wings. She turned her head slightly to glare at a Mynall Bird with a scroll in its mouth.

"… This is your fault, you know," she growled, trying to make the bird feel sorry. However, it continued to stare and shook its head, letting the scroll fall to reveal a message. Strangely, it was written in English as it said, "_Sorry; at least your body is stronger than you think._" The Gaian growled some more; those birds were really testing her.

"Okay, I'm ready," said George, as the girl turned back to him. She blinked, before looking back at the creature, who was now gone without a trace. After a moment, she sighed before looking up at the ceiling. Was she going crazy or did she do something wrong?

* * *

Jack dodged from Lysander's sword swing, before throwing his fist at his opponent's armor. The other man just took the attack before swinging his sword again. As far as the battle went, it seemed he had the upper hand in the match, especially since he had a weapon and armor to match against someone who was unprotected. However, to those who knew the half-vampire, he still had an ace up his sleeve.

Now, whether the next part was purely accident or intended, Lysander lifted his sword and thrust it at his opponent. The attack landed in on the other man's shoulder, deeply enough to make someone incapacitated. The blond gasped with grief; he didn't want to hurt his opponent. And at that moment, it brought back memories, terrible memories.

Fortunately, there was much more to Jack's vampire side than just him being strong and drinking blood. Combining the most infamous Gaian vampire with those of a space vampire along with his human side, the black-haired was immune to most things that could kill a regular being of the night as well as a human. In other words, he just removed his opponent's sword and smirked, saying, "Heh, I survived 108 years through wars and riots. I'm not going to let a little stab hurt me."

That gave relief to the other man, however, it made him relive some moments he didn't want to remember. He felt that he didn't want to go on, like things were going to get worse if he continued to fight. He was about to throw down his bandanna in an ordinance of surrender.

Suddenly, music started to play in the stadium. The people who had never heard of it thought it was some wild animal trying to use a mating call and failing at it. But for those who did, it was definitely a bad sign. The people who knew the song instantly recognized it as Drop the Bombshell by Powerman5000, and they definitely knew who liked that song. Swiftly, something dropped in between the two fighters, making a high smoke cloud in the entrance. They both went into a defensive mode before the smoke started to clear. Standing there was a Grievous-looking cyborg, facing Jack with a sadistic grin on his face. Those who knew the creature very well call him Hawk Masters.

The group quickly got up, until Kuroi looked at them and said, "What are you getting up for? That's part of the battle, right?" To the Dragonkin, they all thought that it was just some summon that Lysander conjured up. However, the others knew better.

"No, it isn't!" Piper started, before saying, "That's Hawk Masters! The guy that turned Jack into a half vampire!" The two reptilians turned pale before looking back at the battleground. It wasn't before long that the specialist's words kicked in.

"THAT'S HAWK?!!!"

"But I thought he was a Gaian?!" exclaimed Tokage as she continued to stare. When George mentioned Hawk, the two thought he was the same race as the Gaians. It was pretty easy to make that assumption.

"He isn't. He is a being called an Atlantean: a very powerful being," Ingo explained, remembering not seeing Tokage and Kuroi at the meeting. "Damn him, he's probably using that form for cover. These people think he's part of the show." The group listened to the rest of the crowd cheering, who was oblivious to the fact that the two couldn't summon that creature. Meanwhile, in the shadows of a particular entrance to the stands, the hooded woman was grinding her teeth in anger.

"What is he doing?!" she silently yelled, while staring at the floor, "Doesn't he know that he's ruining the mission?! Does he know how hard we're working to control this terra?!" She turned to Vincent, who was holding Victoria and smirking at the scene. He didn't seem too phased by it.

"Well, our boss did say we get one kill per round, and since he messed up on getting the girl dead, I guess the leader of those refugees would have to do," commented the vampire, whose face was totally in contrast to her rage. She was getting annoyed by those who weren't really part of their cause.

"… You just want Hawk to capture Jack so you two can torture him for revenge?" she asked, sounding annoyed. Even though he didn't give an answer, the raven-haired man just smirked. She sighed in frustration, knowing that this would not pleased Ecakrad. And there were the matters of her idiotic brother disappearing of all times. The master will definitely punish them all for their disobedience.

Back at the fight, Jack was about to take out his gun since there was no way Hawk couldn't be defeated by brute strength and having a gun would definitely give him an even edge. But before the man could pull it out, the metallic monster grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground. "So, we meet again," he taunted, tightening his grip over the half-vampire, "You know, I missed you so much after the last time we met."

"That's funny. I thought you would still be mad at me for destroying those BloodRayne factories," the prey said, before feeling the grip getting firmer. This guy was still angry about that; strange how his face was still remaining so calm after that insult. Or maybe it was that his

"Mock all you want, Jack. But after I _play _with you, I'm going to take you away so me and a new friend can listen to your tormented screams," the Atlantean mocked, before giving a malicious laugh. Jack just scowled as he struggled against the clutch, wondering if this was truly the end. Knowing that the rules might be stopping people, he looked over at his opponent, who was his only hope. However, the captive wasn't hoping too much since the blond had a similarity to a certain Rex Guardian and he looked like he was scared. Yup, he was pretty much doom.

Lysander was watching the whole thing, shivering as memories from the past were coming back to haunt him. His father dying, his friends being injured, all the people he cared for being tormented by evil pawns of a corrupted government. They were beginning to haunt him, haunt him of how he was useless to defeat the powerful empire that was responsible for the pain and suffering of his home. He was also hearing the voices of his friends and families.

Suddenly, the blond just snapped. He glared at the metallic beast and raised his sword up for attack, charging at it with a powerful battle cry. Unfortunately, Hawk noticed the attack and using his free hand, stabbed the human in the stomach. Everyone else instantly went silent as he only smirked and taunted, "You think you can kill me! I am immortal!"

It was a few moments before there was moving from the supposed-dead body, as he lifted up his head and groggily said, "Funny… So am I." Then, he swung his sword at the Atlantean. Even though it didn't do much damage, the attack made him dropped Jack, who quickly got to a safe distance to pull out his gun. The monster growled again, before using his foot to make other man slide off easily.

As he let out a horrifying scream, the two looked at each other before the Gaian said, "I guess you're helping me fight Hawk, huh?" The blond looked at him, then went back to the creature who now how materialized two metal swords in each hand. He gulped before realizing what was at stake.

"Yes, I am," he answered, before turning back to the half-vampire, "For according to the Code, the innocence must be protecting from all that is evil." And then, he began to charge while leaving a very confused chancellor. First, the black-haired man wasn't as "innocent" as the other thought. Secondly, did he say "the Code"? He must have been a rabid Harrier fan.

And so, the three began to fought with Lysander on close combat, Jack on long-range, and Hawk successfully blocking both on coming attacks with his swords. Now, most people can tell that this would go on forever since they seem to have immortal blood. However, the monster was on a schedule and truth be told, he was getting bored with not landing any slaughter onto his enemies.

"Although it has been fun, I feel that I must be going now," The Atlantean said, before pushing the blond away from him. Then using his sword, he slammed them into the dirt, creating a dust cloud to cover his tracks. Once it cleared, he was gone, leaving no trace of where he had gone off to. Jack growled that his greatest enemy had escaped capture again, but instantly remembered that there was still a fight to win.

The half-vampire turned back to his opponent, only to see him take off his bandanna and said, "I cannot go on with this contest. I have important matters to attend." After that, he left for the locker room, leaving a very confused Gaian to wonder what was more important than fighting. Maybe it was his wound; strange how he could still walk away with a big hole showing his inner organs though.

In the stands, everyone sat in silence, trying to comprehend what had happen. Hawk came, that was a given, but it was how an amnesiac man with a sky knight move and no history what-so-ever can survive a stabbing in the gut. Regular immortal was out since, really, what higher power would give him that? It was several moments before Dawne had broke the silence with, "Guys, I think I know who Lysander might be."

* * *

"Help! I think something is wrong with me?" Lysander said as he burst in the room. Both George and Emma just looked over at him with wide eyes. He had a big hole in his abdomen that was showing his inners. They began to feel a little green.

"I'll say; I can see your stomach," the teen girl said, literally shocked and sick at the same time. George just got up, walked Lysander over to a bench, and made him sit on it. Next, the doctor started to analyze his patient. It started out hopeful, but the blond began to lose it when the young man's face turned serious.

"Well, other than that wound, you seem fine," the British boy said, sighing, "'Owever, I'm worried about you still living without a pulse." In order for a creature to live, they must have some sort of pulse to tell that their heart was pumping blood. And for Lysander, that worried him very much.

"What are saying?" the man said, having concern in his voice, "That I'm supposed to be dead?!" The other two just stayed silent as they tried they comprehend what phenomenon was keeping him alive. Emma had a theory though, with all those RPGs she had played back home.

"You ARE supposed to be dead," a new voice said, as the group turned to see that Aerrow and Piper entered the room. "Your name, your amnesia, how you can do a sky knight move similar to one that was performed 500 years ago," the specialist pointed out before looking back at the blond. "Dawne clued us in on who you _really _are."

It was now the young sky knight's turn as he spoke up, "You are Lysander Rex, not only the first leader to the Rex Guardians, but the first sky knight ever in Atmos _**five-hundred years **_ago." The room instantly went silent as Lysander turned paler than usual. Five-hundred years?! That could mean that the only reason he was now-

Meanwhile, in the vents, Vincent in bat mode was laughing his butt off in little bat squeaks. Vezeel fell in love with the undead ancestor to that over-pompous Harrier.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the wait again! Like I said before, this is summer. But I'll try my best to update as soon as possible.

So, this is one of my big secrets that I have been keeping. For those reading this story, Lysander is Flame Soldier's character, and she made it pretty clear that he was Harrier's ancestor and the first sky knight. So, it was pretty difficult to bring him in to the story since it was set five-hundred years later since the only things I could think of to bring him into the story was either time warp or undead resurrection. I felt time warp was too expected so I went with the undead thing.

Now, it is time for my explanation to tell the difference between zombies and the undead, with a little help from WoW lore, Frankenstein, and other things that involve the living dead. Zombies are mindless, cannibal-eating creatures with one thing in mind, eating either brains or flesh. They can be easily control if done right, or else they take over the world with anarchy. The Undead, however, are not as easily controlled; they gain thought, conscious, and almost all the memories of their former selves. However, they still are dangerous depending how the outside world takes them. And that's pretty much it.

I do not own Drop the Bombshell; it belongs to Powerman5000 and its original creators. If there's anything else you are familiar with, I don't own that either.

Also, I would like to thank Hawk-Masters, Flame Soldier, SakariWolfe, NekoNekoMinako, Kitten2007, and Page-Mistress for the reviews. And also NekoNekoMinako for editing this. I'm glad you guys have been patient with me. This is really a big project.

Anyway, please Read and Review!


	13. Chapter 12: Undeniable Truths

Disclaimer: All characters, places, ideas, and concepts belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 12: Undeniable Truths_

"I'm dead…?" Lysander muttered, as the others stared at his nervous reaction, "I'M DEAD?!!!" It was sad, but yes, the man who had started the crusade for those who had been terrorized by evil was, indeed, supposed to be dead. Of how he was standing before them, actually breathing, there was only one explanation for this.

"Actually, you're UNdead. You're definitely not the corpse-eating, low-intelligence zombie that can be controlled easily; but you're not exactly among the living either." Emma explained, getting very confused looks from everyone in the room. "… What? I'm just guessing. I get this stuff from video games, books, TV shows, and web sites." That didn't change things, especially the blonde's depressing state. This gave him new questions that he needed to find.

"But how could this happen? If I had lived five-hundred years ago, how can I be here?" he asked, "How can I be in this fighting tournament when I am supposed buried on Terra Rex?!" Both Piper and Aerrow knew that upon a Rex Guardian's death, they were taken to a mausoleum for an honorable burial. It was even written in the Code that all Guardians should have this burial.

"Dawne told us that a few weeks earlier, someone broke into your squadron's crypt. But it really doesn't explain how you got here." Aerrow answered. The undead looked down before sighing; he didn't want to live, particularly like this. He was now alone in this strange, modern world.

It was silence before the brunette girl spoke up again, "You could have been revived by a Necromancer, or a Leech." Everyone looked at her again, more confused than before. "… You know, L-I-C-H; Leech." Now, they were just worried about her.

"… Emma, it's Lich," corrected George, before saying, "And those things are just in fiction. It is impossible to resurrection people by just doing magic." That when Piper started to think about the other methods. This was Atmos, and Atmos' power was in crystals.

"Maybe not by magic, but by crystals," the specialist said, causing everyone to look at her as if she was the center of attention. "There have been reports of certain crystals that have the power to with revival attributes. Unfortunately, the reports also say that the resurrected were just mindless cannibalistic puppets."

"And that definitely doesn't describe Lysander," Aerrow commented, looking back at the undead sky knight. After wondering whose wicked plan this was, he heard the calls of the crowd. "… And we don't have time to figure it out now. Piper, I want you to read more on these reports. We might be dealing with something dangerous here."

The tanned girl saluted before for the door. Once she opened the door, people who were listening to the conversation (Finn and a few others) fell out from behind. She just rolled her eyes and walked away, knowing that this was more important than nagging them. George also got up and said, "I will be going as well for that IV and blood packs. I might as well talk to Starling about the undead Guardian as well."

As the British boy started to leave, Emma was a little confused. "… How does he know Starling?" She only met Starling a few weeks ago and her impression was that she took with the woman was that she took things too seriously. Maybe it was just her being laid back.

"Starling is his girlfriend," the sky knight answered, before leaving for his battle. That made the brunette blushed a bit; she thought the Interceptor had some love/hate relationship with Repton. Oh well, at least she got the relationship part right.

It was seconds before Finn noticed the older blonde's face and asked, "Dude, what's wrong?" The others then turned to Lysander, now noticing his depression. Oh yea, they forgot about him and his problems.

The undead looked over at them and answered, "I am five-hundred years old and undead, all my friends are gone, along with my family, and I don't know what to do now. That's what wrong." Everyone just stood there quietly for a few moments. For someone who now knew who he was, he should have been happy. Although, there was no one in the world wanted to be undead.

"Could be worse," Vireo said, "You could be one of those that spread the plague." Oh yea, that would have made him more of an outcast. His memories jumbled and blurred, the man needed to know how he came to be here; or else…

* * *

"Ready… FIGHT!!!!!!!!"

Both Kuroi and Aerrow lunged at each other, both their weapons blocking the other's attack. The two were on the offensive since there was no need to be on the defensive. Both were of almost equal status, so the only thing they could do was beat each other senseless with style. Yup, this was a macho battle.

The Dragonkin lifted up his spear and thrust it towards the sky knight. The human, however, dodged the attack by jumping backwards like an acrobat. Once landing, he jumped forward for a frontal assault. The white-haired reptilian dodged to the side and swung his spear again. The boy blocked the attack, neither giving ground to the other.

"You're good," the red head commented, smirking as the two held their weapons shakily. The black-scaled lizard just scoffed before jumping backwards. Then, he lunged again at his opponent again, hoping for a flinch out of him. The boy noticed and went to the side, only to be hit by the shaft of the spear. Okay, good wasn't enough; Kuroi was definitely formidable.

The lizard got into his stance for his Dragon's Might attack, which was now Aerrow's chance. The red head took a big leap and tackled his opponent to the ground. The two struggled; the sky knight trying endlessly to take off the black-scaled Dragonkin's bandana. The reptilian growled before kicking the other fighter off of him. The boy landed on his feet. Unfortunately, he was now an open for a charging Kuroi.

The human quickly dodged to the side and then did a jump, round-house kick at his competitor. The white-haired lizard fell to the ground from the impact. He was about to get up before noticing the daggers of Aerrow staring at him. He could have escape, but he was too tired to continue on. Kuroi just laid there as the teen boy cut off his bandanna with his daggers. And once that was done, he looked at the sky knight and said, "That was a great match. Grandmaster Zhu would have been proud."

"… Zhu?" asked the red head, who definitely didn't know what his ex-opponent was talking about. The Dragonkin noticed the other's look and mentally slapped himself. He forgot that most people still didn't know about Terra Ryu and its inhabitants.

"Zhu is my and Tokage's teacher. He is an expert Sky Fu master, and part of the Dragonkin clan that are almost related to the real dragons." He forgot to add that his master can breathe fire since most humans would find it an endangerment to their own kind. Once getting up, he added, "If you and your crew ever come to Terra Ryu, you should take up temporary lessons with him. Which reminds me, how's Emma doing?"

"I think she's fine. George's getting her the IV and she's now relaxing in the locker room." The sky knight answered, imagining the Gaian unwinding on the bench. "It's Lysander I'm worried about…" Oh yea, the human who wasn't human but instead an undead; and not only that, the very first Rex Guardian. Resurrecting people during the years of their soul's rest is a crime too horrible to commit.

"I kinda figured as much when Tokage and I smelled his rotting flesh." The Dragonkin commented, looking down at his feet. "It's going to be hard for him to get accustomed to this world. I wonder how the others would take it, especially Vezeel." Oh yea, that strange woman who was flirting with the man and scaring him at the same time. The red head hadn't seen her lately, which made him a little bit suspicious. Hopefully, she was going to take the news and maybe still accept him as a normal person.

* * *

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

"Are you done yet?" asked an angry Vezeel, who had already heard the news and wasn't taking it so well. Yes, she was embarrassed that she was flirting with Lysander, along the lines of him being undead and not him being Harrier's descendant. She knew the situation was humiliating enough, but did Vincent have to rub it in?

The vampire stifled his laughing and said, "I'm sorry; it's just that the situation… It's hilarious!" The woman just puffed out her cheeks. Then, she noticed his "wine" standing in the distance. She _could_ take out all her anger on the young Gaian. But it would just waste her energy for the next round.

"As much as the situation is both funny and humiliating," said Hawk as he stepped out of the shadows in his Atlantean form still, "We should find out how this Lysander person got revived. Whether it was some biological weapon or "magic", we must discover the cause to make sure that our invasion will have a victory… _for once_!" The Eurlian groaned; no one likes losing, especially when it was a losing streak. And the people she worked with definitely had the worst.

"And what are we going to do when we find out? Tell our superiors?" she asked the two. Luckily, the other woman had gone off in search of her brother and Ecakrad was talking with higher authority. "In fact, should we even _tell _them? I mean, they're probably going to mess up the opportunity. Why should we act like we're peons?"

"Because other than you, we have more important things to worry about," Vincent answered, looking over at Victoria. "For me, I have no choice but to follow their orders or else my beloved would just aged and die like the Gaian captives before her. I don't know about Hawk though."

"I'm here because I simply want revenge against the PFE and I join them to do so," the robotic form answered, "Unfortunately, I now realized that these soldiers are nothing less than inferior. Nothing against you, miss; but it's the others that bug me, especially their leader. I would just like to bring the _Armageddon _hereand kill all these organics at once." The two just stared palely at him. They were making a mental note not to get on his bad side.

It was moments when Vezeel broke the silence by saying, "Well, I got to go to my match anyway. I'm hoping that the rage and disappointment inside me might be enough in order to get KIRA into her ultimate form." The Eurlian left, leaving the two men in silence. They had high suspicions about her. But as long as she didn't interfere with their plans, she was good.

* * *

Dawne waited in the arena when her opponent entered it, both going into fighting stance right after. Even though she wasn't in it to win, the experiment wanted to at least do her best without releasing her full power. However, she didn't know Vezeel well - the other wanted to go all the way.

"Ready… FIGHT!!!" the opponents ran at each other, ready from attack. Dawne got the first turn by throwing a punch, but it was only to be dodged by the Eurilian, who smiled sadistically. The silverette threw another punch, and then another and another. This strategy was definitely not working.

"Come on, KIRA," mocked the woman, "Or is that the best you got?" The younger female grimaced. Only a few people knew about that part of her past, and most of them didn't have the best intentions for her purpose. Did this mean Vezeel wanted her for some nefarious plot as well?

Realizing that it would be futile to dwell on the question now, the teen girl threw another punch at the blue-haired woman, only to have the same results as the last few times. And to add more insult, her opponent grabbed her arm and then flipped her onto her back. The young woman hissed in pain as the Eurlian grabbed her arm and started to twist it painfully while holding her down by outing a foot down on her stomach. The silverette cringed before asking in a weak voice, "… What do you want?"

Vezeel smirked before demanding, "I want to fight you." Well, that was an idiotic request; she was fighting her right now. "I want to fight you at the best, your OMEGA form." That caused Dawne to pale red. She would only go into that form in case it was an emergency. If she did that to her competitor, who knows how much damage and trauma she'll deal.

Quickly, she reached into her left boot and threw a knife at the blue-haired woman. The target dodged, but she let go of the opponent's arm, making the other scramble out quickly and once standing, took out her dual-blade and went into stance. The Eurlian smirked; now it was getting interesting.

The silverette charged at her opponent and swung her weapon, only to make a small slice on the arm. If Vezeel wanted a fight, she was going to get it. However, she wasn't going to go into her OMEGA form just because she was asked to. She was sure that she would kill her.

The older woman smirked as she dodged the swings from the sword. It was a step up, but not necessarily what she wanted. Maybe it was time for her to use her enhanced strength to her limit now. Once one of the blades came at her, she grabbed it before it hit her squared in the side. A little bit of her blood tinkled before she broke the metal with her hand. Dawne went into shock before recovering and then using the other end as a sword. A few seconds later, that end wound up with the same results as the previous blade. Now, all that was left was a stick with small, sharp ends.

The blue-haired woman just smirked as her hands dripped of her own blood. "Now, you have no choice. You have to go into OMEGA form." Project KIRA had to admit the realization; her small baselards wouldn't do because it involved a dangerous close-range combat and her auxiliary wouldn't cut it since the woman destroyed her weapon without any effort. But, even if that was the last resort, she knew she couldn't do it.

"I… I can't." the young woman said, worried that the extent of her power might lead to her opponent's death. The Eurlian just stared darkly at the experiment; she wasn't going to end this battle until she faced off against OMEGA. And if reality didn't get to her opponent's mind, then maybe a threat will.

"If you surrender right now and don't go into OMEGA form, I'm going to kill each of your little friends right here and now, including that handsome ravenette you seem to hang around with." That definitely caused some stress to the Super Ego of Dawne. But she could have been bluffing, right? The older female took out a small detonator and continued, "I placed several bombs around the stadium when no one was looking and upon pressing this little device, I can kill everyone, including you, your friends, and me. So, if you want to transform, now's the best time to do it." She didn't want her friends to suffer for something she didn't want to do. Maybe it time for the last resort; she had to go into OMEGA.

Once focusing, red rune marks started to appear on her body. Then, a powerful jolt of energy appeared, causing a bright light to appear in the stadium and nearly blind everyone. Vezeel, being the closest to the human, just sadistically smile while covering her face with her arms as her opponent started to transform into the ultimate form. Dawne's eyes turned red and cat-like, her fingernails grew long like claws, her canines turned into vampiric fangs, and the blue marking that was on her right cheek turned black and jagged. Once the ethereal wings appear on the silverette's back, the Eurilian knew that the competitor had gone into the OMEGA form; the final.

Her once-broken dualblade appeared in Project KIRA's hands as the weapon gain both a lightning blade and a fire blade. The blue-haired woman smirked as her opponent came at her with lightning speed and swung her blade at her. She dodged with a cut on her back, wincing for a moment while keeping the sadistic smile upon her face. This was all too perfect; she had finally gotten her wish of fighting one of the most powerful people in this world and then making her even more powerful to make a worthy opponent. Unfortunately, she didn't take into account how berserk Dawne went.

Before even blinking, the silverette appeared behind the Eurlian's back before combining her wind, water, and shadow elements and firing it at her opponent. The target got hit and fell to ground, making a human-sized crater. The enigmatic woman floated down to the ground, waiting to see if her competitor survived. Suddenly, Vezeel popped out of the crater, banged up but still alive. She wasn't going to be beaten that easily.

Still staring at the blue-haired woman, Dawne let one of her glyphs glowed to activate a spell. A few seconds later, there were the sounds of rumbling underneath the other fighter. Acting quickly, she jump-flipped into the air right before rock spike popped out of the ground. Once high enough, she went into form for a flying kick at the silverette. Noticing this, the target's runes started to glow again, before a fury of fireballs headed at the fighter. The other woman took the last minute to dodge, breaking off the assault and landing on the ground.

A nanosecond later, Vezeel started to dodge the spinning dualblade as her opponent swung it around to kill her. During this time, she got a lot more cuts, but she still never faltered from the brawl. She was going to make this out as the victor, no matter how much the younger female tear at her flesh and beat her bones. While the Eurlian was in midair, the Atmosian grabbed her from behind and threw her to the ground. Then, she started to charge up all seven elements; Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, Lightning, Shadow, and Aura. The blue haired woman noticed this and staggered back up for one last confrontation.

'I can't lose… I won't lose.'

Vezeel pulled her fist back for a punch.

'I and the rest of my friends were created after years of research to better our own kind as weapons.'

Dawne was about to throw all the elements she called upon for the final blow.

'I will not be beaten here!'

There was another bright light as everyone covered their eyes again. The sheer force of the blast was felt within yards of the terra. Once the temporary blindness pass, the crowd stared at the huge crater that covered the entire stadium floor. Zack, being one of those that was personally close to Dawne, quickly got up and headed down to where the two unconscious competitors lie on the ground. He was worried that the silverette might have gone too far.

Once in the crater, the spiky ravenette went right towards the unconscious woman and started to shake her, saying, "Dawne! Dawne! Please wake up." A few minutes of calling, hope started to fade until there came groaning from her body. That gave him the relief until another voice groaned. He quickly turned to the other woman, who was already up, with cuts, bruises and the works. How she survived that blast, he didn't want to find out.

"Heh, that was a good duel, eh?" she murmured before walking over to the two and grabbing the bandanna from the unconscious woman. "She's definitely a worthy opponent in that form. I wish I could fight her again in the future." As she walked away, Zack just stared at her retreating form. What did she mean by that? Whatever it meant, it was casting a giant shadow over the tournament, and whatever was hiding under it was definitely not good.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the delay… Again. Things kept popping up. Hopefully, the awesomeness of Vezeel's and Dawne's fight will make up for it.

Anyway, thank yous to Kitten2007, Hawk-Masters, and Flame Soldier! I'm sorry for the delay again. With any luck, I'll get right back on track with this. Either that, or start another project. I don't know.

So, the next chapter is a break and it's on to the Semi-Finals! What treachery awaits our heroes?

Please Read and Review!


	14. Chapter 13: Exposure of Plans

Disclaimer: All characters, places, ideas, and concepts belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 13: Exposure of Plans_

It was in the halls of the arena that a certain group of Storm Hawks, Thunder Eagles, members of the PFE, and maybe a Dragonkin or two were discussing what had already happened in the last round. The said-strongest almost killed Emma, Lysander revealed to be an Undead Rex Guardian, and Dawne went into OMEGA form for no apparent reason. Now, most people would just consider these coincidences to be nothing serious. But in the eyes of the group, something definitely was going on here.

"Okay, we have twenty minutes until the Semi-Finals start to get some information on what is going on," stated Jack, since the original break was cut to ten minutes due to the fact that there were less people now, but double due to the fact that Dawne went berserk on the stadium floor. "George, I want you to go to the library here to check out anything that involves Undead or this tournament. Stauffenburg and Ingo, you guys contact your men and see if they can get here by tomorrow. I'll go contact Mikki." Now, everyone knew why he wanted to contact her; Jack was missing Mikki.

"My team and the Storm Hawks will go chat with the locals to see if they seen Hawk or anyone suspicious around here." Rhia stated, just almost as Aerrow was about to. It seemed that the two sky knights had the same idea for the break. Luckily, it was good due to they'll get more done that way.

"I'm going to go with George to the library since they have a big selection and may include some fighting techniques as well." Tokage said, before turning to Kuroi, "You coming too?" The black-scaled lizard just looked over at her with just his usual face. However, it had on the hidden rage of defeat if one were to look closely enough.

"No thanks," he answered, "I'm going to train some more." Even though he had lost, the Dragonkin still wanted to train in order to become stronger. He knew he wouldn't become tougher just by simply reading books. That, and there was already someone with Tokage as well.

Jack sighed and said, "Good, let's get going." And the group started to split into their separate ways, ready to get whatever info was out there. However, they didn't suspect that they were being watched. In fact, they didn't even suspect that the person who was watching them was a stout, little man wearing a black, cultic cloak. He was steaming with anger because the last round didn't exactly go in his favor.

"Damn these pests. If they stayed away from my slave, I would have that prize by now." said the man, whose name in this place was "Harry". His real name was a secret since he belonged to an ancient and secret sect of followers who worshiped one of Atmos' old gods, most preferable the one that ruled over the afterlife. His mission was to gain a powerful source from Terra Colussmis by going to where they kept the tournament's prize. Since he wasn't much of a fighter by hand, he decided to grave-robbed the Guardian's crypt and then used the Mana Pools in order to create an undead puppet with enough conscious to make him look non-suspicious… Perhaps, in recompense, he created too much of a conscious undead slave. "If any of them figure out where Lysander came from, our plans for this world shall be ruin. I must destroy him when I get the chance."

"So _**you're**_ the one who created that walking bag of flesh!" said a voice, causing Harry to pale. Before he could at least run, he was picked up by a now human Hawk, who was smiling sinisterly. He stared at his prey with the evil eye and spoke, "As much as I would like to eat you, perhaps whatever you did will be useful for us. I might as well take you to our master. She's probably conversing her plans with the second-in-command as we speak."

As the necromancer was being dragged away by whoever found out, he felt dread, shamefulness, and confused of how this being discovered his existence since he was hiding so carefully. Then, he started to pray to his god, solely saying that he was sorry and will try to make up for it if he was able to be revived again.

* * *

George felt uncomfortable when walking with Tokage to the library. It wasn't because Tokage was a lizard anthro; he didn't have Scoliodentosaurophobia. It was the fact that she hung out with Repton that made him nervous. Both he and Starling were captured by that overgrown reptilian and then tortured by Hawk before being rescued. And with the sense of foul play being aroused, who knows if she was even a friend or foe?

"… I'm not a Raptor," he heard the white-scaled lizard said, as he turned to face her. "Just because I live with them doesn't mean I agree with their choices. Kuroi and I hate the Cyclonians because of what they did to our terra. I may help Repton at times; but if it involves hurting people and working for the Cyclonians, I will not be a part of it."

The British Gaian just paled and stated, "I didn't say anything about that." True, he was thinking about it. But he knew it wouldn't be proper to just blurt it out to her. He was raised better than that.

"I know you didn't," she answered back, "It's just that some humans confused Dragonkin to be Raptors and judge us for crimes we didn't commit." Boy, that must have been a hard for her kind. He felt a little bit sorry since he knew this wasn't the first time humans discriminate against something different. He wanted to say something back, but another voice was heard.

"Stop right there, you low live scum!" shouted the new voice as the two turned to see a brunette, fox girl standing behind them with a peeved off look on her face. She then approached the young man, grabbed his collar and started to shake him, yelling, "Where is my fiancé?!"

"W-What?!" asked George, as he was being shaken. He didn't know what the fox demon was talking about in the first place. In fact, he didn't know why she was shaking him for.

Osprey growled and pulled the Gaian close up to her face. "Don't act like you don't know! You probably took my fiancé to get rid of his so-called "evil" essence that you think every demon possesses! Well, guess what, not _all _demons are evil and we live lives that don't involve messing with humans!" Afterwards, she started to shake him again, "So, where's my Vireo?!!!!"

The two instantly remembered the reddish-blonde male fox that had been with them for a while. In truth, they still didn't know where he was, probably had gone off after Lysander's fight or so. Maybe it was because his so-called fiancé was getting a little close to finding him.

After watching the brunette completely make George sick, the white-scaled lizard got an idea and asked, "Maybe your Vireo is down at the library." That made the fox girl stopped shaking her victim. "You can come with us if you want." The shorter just glared while thinking for a moment. It was several seconds before she let go of the young man.

"… Fine," she answered, "But if I don't find my fiancé there, your lives are going to becomes much shorter." Then, she started to walk off, leading the two towards the library. Tokage smiled a little bit while George was uneasy. Was it okay for another to come with them?

"Tokage, are you sure about this?" whispered the Britain as they continued to follow. He wasn't sure that having another person would be helpful to their cause; especially if that person was a love-struck crazy girl.

"I don't know myself either." The Dragonkin answered quietly, "But I would rather keep an eye on her rather than let her wonder around, where she could do some damage." The young man began to think about it, imagining a very scary fox demon rampaging throughout the terra. In respect, that was the best-case scenario of the situation.

* * *

Dawne relaxed on the bench, staring up at the ceiling with Zen. She was thinking about her match and how that Vezeel person knew about KIRA. Most people who knew wanted her to be used with some nefarious plot. However, the blue-haired woman just seemed to just want to fight at her most powerful form. Still, the young woman couldn't help, but think what her true intentions were?

Suddenly, she heard the door open and turned to see Lysander, who was now looking more regal than ever. To think that he was just some total stranger without any memory of who he was and now, he look almost like the current leader of the Rex Guardians, in both stature and uniform. To support this, he bowed and greeted, "Miss Dawne, are you alright?"

"… It's just Dawne," the silverette answered, "And I'm fine. Just a bit worn out, but fine." She also noticed that the wound he got from the fight with Hawk just was bandage since being undead means that he couldn't bleed to death. It was just to cover up the fact that he can still walk around with a big hole in his abdomen.

"I'm sorry about this, Miss Dawne," the undead man apologized, "But since I have discovered my true identity and my origins, I must redeem my humanity since I have been resurrected from the grave." It pained him to tell himself that he was now a creature of evil; one born from another ashes and been given new life again. For humans, that wasn't the way.

The young woman just rolled her eyes and said, "Come on, Lysander. Just because you're undead doesn't mean that you're evil." She knew that much from experience; just because her power was destructive didn't mean that she was evil as well.

"But I _**am **_evil!" the blonde retorted in a stronger voice, "I am supposed to be dead, lay to rest in the honorable Guardian's crypt! Instead, I am here, resurrected, probably by some nefarious person to do their bidding, and walking around as an evil, somewhat immortal for the rest of my life!"

There was a still of silence before Dawne spoke up, "You're not evil. Just because you're undead doesn't make it so. Look, I was created to be a weapon and to be control to whoever had the right price. However, I am a living person, and decided to make my own choice from now on. There are probably a lot of people who are good when they have a certain quirk that doesn't make it so. Tokage and Kuroi are almost like Raptors, but that doesn't make them evil. The same goes for that fox demon; annoying maybe, but not evil. In fact, those strange humans and that girl that hangs out with the Storm Hawks were actually Gaians."

"GAIANS?!!" almost shrieked Lysander. After thinking for a moment, he the said, "But they don't look like the typical depictions of Gaians." That was enough to cause the woman to laugh; the common stereotype that most Atmosians would have of a Gaian was a being that was almost bloodthirsty and dumb. Seeing the contrast is what Dawne thought that what the undead said was comical.

Being confused by her behavior, the man was about to speak before hearing the door open again. Turning, he saw that it was only the dark-haired man who hanged around Dawne as well. The two men looked shock at first seeing each other, before the blonde one started to take his leave; he knew they needed time alone. Besides, he felt like that once… Maybe.

Zack watched the undead leave before looking back at the silverette, "Dawne, what did Lysander want to talk about?" She just looked at him and breathed. It is strange how people who have seen another's capabilities still worry about their well-being.

"He wanted to see if I was okay." she answered, giving out a smile on her face. Then, she looked at him seriously and asked, "Have you found Vezeel yet?"

The man shook his head and responded, "Haven't seen her since your last match. Probably for the best. If she was really working for the Cyclonians or anyone else that knows about your powers, then they probably were going to do something really bad. In fact, maybe the Dark Ace is chatting to Cyclonis on their plans to take over the Atmos."

* * *

"As you can see, Master, even though we had a few _minor_ problems, no one still has suspected our plans yet. As long as Vezeel allows me to win next round, I will fight the brat if he wins as well. As we fight, the crowd will be too occupied to notice Hawk's ship or you coming onto this terra, especially those goody Storm Hawks and their friends. And afterwards, we will have this terra and the power source it holds! Nothing will stop us!"

"Oh, looky what I found!" shouted Hawk, as he flew the door open to the very dark room. Ecakrad covered his eyes, temporary blinded before seeing the disguised Atlantean carrying what seemed to be a small, scared, hooded man. Realizing this, he snarled at the figure; how dare he allow another living being who wasn't part of their scheme to hear him.

"Hawk, you better have a good reason for barging in with a witness in your hands." the man stated, angrily grinding his teeth. It was bad enough that their cover was almost blown a couple of times already. But for Hawk to bring an actually being who was not part of their operation was unacceptable.

The Atlantean grinned evilly before answering, "Well, do you remember that Lysander fellow who somehow survived my blow to the stomach last round?" He then lifted up the person and continued, "It turns out that Lysander is just the undead ancestor to Harrier and this person was the one who resurrected him. And since we all know that your glorious empire is having a losing streak lately, I think that he could help us with our invasion."

There was silence before an angry Ecakrad spoke up, "_Is_ that _**all**_? I can assure you, Hawk, that whatever he's doing here doesn't involve our plans. And even if he is useful, how about his loyalty? Just because he's submitted to you doesn't mean that-"

"Wait, my servant," said a new voice which caused the cloaked figure to stop his rant. "… Hawk, may you put whoever you have down." The robot-in-disguise quickly dropped Harry, who was now feeling a little bit of pain on his bottom. He then looked over into the darkness as the voice said, "Come closer and tell me everything."

Once inching a few inches closer and gulping, the stout man explained, "Well, you see, I am part of an ancient cult, one who wishes to bring our powerful lord into this world so that he could rule the skies again with death and pestilence along with his army of the undead. However, we need a powerful energy source to bring for this world's fate. Our spies told us that this terra will hold the key to our success and thus, my leaders have chosen me to use the ashes of the Guardian we _acquire_ from the crypt to resurrect and make him fight until he was the winner of this tournament."

"… So, you're a Necromancer?" the voice asked, curious as to his power to summon the body of her most hated enemy that started the war five-hundred years ago. According to the science of bringing the undead back to life, you can only make the undead puppet of the decease, not bring back his soul or memories. Thus, it would be real easy to tell who was a zombie and who wasn't.

"Yes, our whole sect is a clan of Necromancers. However, even the most powerful can never summon a being who will act almost like a human. Therefore, I have to use the Mana Pools to bring my once-loyal slave back to the living in order fight. It might have worked a little too well." Remembering how he couldn't get to Lysander due to the suspicions of the group, he growled in frustration. Then looking up, Harry asked, "What do you plan to do with me now?"

After a few moments of silence, the voice spoke up again, "First off, you will not be summoning anymore of what your slave has become. Instead, during the final match, you are going to help me invade this terra by summon an undead army in hopes of blocking the escape routes by both land and air. If you do this, I shall think about giving you this power source you speak of. Otherwise, if you refuse…" Right on cue, a red, glowing sword and a monstrous, metallic hand came within a half inch of the Necromancer's throat, signaling him to choose. Knowing that it he now didn't have any alternative, he bowed his hand and answered,

"As you wish, Master Cyclonis."

* * *

"The Bearer of Plague? Travels of the High Dragons? War of the Earthly Savages?! What the hell are they doing in the nonfiction section?!" exclaimed George, who couldn't believe at how big the library was. He also couldn't believe how many books sounded like they needed to be in the fiction category. Only a few had been factual, but it had been of maps of the Colussmis and fighting styles. The rest were just as the most practical person would describe it, "_The most unrealistic and childish books I have ever seen_".

"Well, George, you have to remember that this is Atmos." Tokage said, reading a book on combat, "While we still strive away from things that may seem unbelievable, we still have a few realities that seem out of reach than that of Gaia. You just need to remember that you're not on your world anymore."

The Englishman looked over at the lizard and stated, "I know that I'm not on Earth anymore. But still, these books are outlandish! Are these people so wrapped up in the dark ages that they consider these true?!" The boy then thrust the book back into place before reaching for another and reading it. He was getting pretty tired of how this terra was living; they really needed to advance since their leader opened its tournament to everyone in the Atmos.

"Well, one thing's for sure," said Osprey's voice, as the two turned to her, "I do not see my fiancé anywhere in this library. So, he either left already or you lied to me." Before they could have said anything else, the brunette fox already started to gather energy for an attack. The young man and the lizard got ready to defend themselves. Luckily or unluckily, another voice came into the picture.

"Why the hell are you even watching if you don't like it so much?!" a loud and familiar voice yelled, causing all three to quickly become stiff with fear. It also was close to as they peeked around the corner to see two cloaked figures in the book alleyway. One had a very big upper body while the other was slender and feminine. The feminine one looked very sternly at the bigger.

"Because, Snipe, it appears that whenever you are left alone lately, terrible things seem to happen to our plans. And since this is being one of our most important missions, I need to make sure you don't mess it up." The woman then removed her hood to reveal to be Ravess. "We need at least _one _victory over these delinquents. And I need to make sure that everything would go exactly as plan… Without any minor annoyances that may appear."

The three spies gaped in silence at what they had just heard. The Cyclonians were going to invade Terra Colussmis, and they were using the tournament as covered for their schemes. This really didn't surprise them much, but still, there were so many people who didn't have the slightest suspicion of what was going to happen. They knew they needed to get back or else another innocent terra was going to fall.

Unfortunately, when the group turned around, they never suspected to be ganged up by several talons, a young woman in a gothic dress, and a dark-haired man with a nobility appearance. "You know… I knew someone was going to drop in on those idiots. Maybe that's why I had to make sure you never tell anyone what you had seen." All the grunts raised their staves and aimed them at their target. This didn't seem to be a good situation.

"… At least you have a lot of other idiots with no sense of courage with you." George taunted before pulling his fist back for a punch at the nobleman. However, Tokage felt something was not right with this situation. She caught the scent of blood from the woman; more specifically, Gaian blood. And she also noticed a faint bite mark on the human's neck. This came to a conclusion she didn't want to think about.

"George, wait!" the Dragonkin called out, but it was too late. The vampire already appeared in the Gaian's way, grabbed both his fist and arm, and yanked them both back in a strong and torture pose. Osprey was about to use some of her fox demon magic on the opponent, but got knocked down by his throw using the young man as a dummy. The brunette human stagger upwards, only to have a foot pressed on top of his chest with severe pain to follow.

"Unlike you're little Gaian, half-vampire leader, I am a full Atmosian vampire," Vincent taunted, leaning close to George's face. "And since I am a vampire of Atmos, I get certain attributes when drinking blood of a Gaian. I get enhanced strength, speed, the very same power that your ancestors had when they fought against Atmos." George sneered as the Cyclonians surrounded him, Tokage, and a KOed Osprey. Ravess came onto the scene along with her brother, who now had his hood off.

"What is going on here?" she asked, looking a little bit peeved. One of her pet peeves was unwelcome spies eavesdropping on her private conversation. Another one was someone else catching the spies before she could.

The vampire turned to the two, bowed, and explained, "Commander Ravess, these three had overheard you about the invasion plans and I had to do my duty to let this plan be executed without any frustrations." Then, he looked over at George and smirked evilly. "But don't worry, they'll make excellent hostages."

The British man glared with fury. Since they had learned about the Talon's plans for invasions, apparently being a hostage wasn't a good sign. And since that was going to happen here, he decided to curse the one person who was probably in this as well.

'Damn you, Hawk.'

* * *

Author's Notes:

HI PEEPS!!!! Sorry for taking so long… Again. I think I probably have at least six more chapters left (semi-finals, break, finals, two-part chappy invasion, and aftermath.) before this could be finished. At least the holidays are coming up.

Anyway, those who hadn't already guess can probably now see the hidden aspects of the plot. For one, it was the Necromancer resurrecting Lysander from the grave. For Harry Potter fans, this wasn't to make fun of or make a reference to Harry Potter. I was trying to figure out the silliest name other than Bob, and poof; there's a Harry the Necromancer.

Another is the Cyclonians' other motive to invade Terra Colussmis. I'm not going to reveal that one yet. I'm just going to give you some clues until I'll show it to you for real. Believe me; it's probably worth the wait

Also, I'm still on a Slayers/Storm Hawks fan craze still. In fact, if you guys ever watched the Slayers series lately, I gave a reference to a certain Dark Lord in the title of books that George lists. If any of you guess which Dark Lord it is, I'll give the right guesser... Something. It's not that important. I just wanted to see how many people know.

Thanks you go out to Flame Soldier and Kitten2007 for reviewing. I also forgot to thanks NekoNekoMinako for revising the last chapter so… Thank you, NekoNekoMinako!

Anyway, Please Read and Review!


	15. Chapter 14: SemiFinals Blowout

Disclaimer: All characters, settings, ideas, and concepts belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 14: Semi-Finals Blow-out_

Hawk Masters sneezed before rubbing his nose. That was strange; he must have been coming down with a cold or something. It would have been pretty much impossible though, since Atlanteans were almost like Cyborgs and they were almost immune to every disease in history, including the common cold. However, he decided to ignore that problem right now when he saw two apparitions that looked human and asked, "Can I help you?"

One of them simply bowed and answered, "Forgive us; we are servants of Master Vincent. Ghouls, if you may call us; once human, but failed to become vampires when we drank our Master's potion." That was a pretty easy way to become a vampire now; he should have done that instead of genetic manipulations. "We are here to tell you that our master has captured two of our enemies along with a female fox demon - one, the white-scaled Dragonkin, and the other, the Gaian human called George."

"Ah, that certainly is great news. This could work into my favor," Hawk muttered, rubbing his chin in a sneaky way. After a while, he came up with a plan and asked, "Do you think your master might let me use them for…dealings?"

The ghouls just stared at him before the other replied, "Our master thought you would say something like that. His answer is that you may use the hostages for bargaining chips. However, he only requests that you may not give away the Gaian away." Hawk only smirked at this - it didn't seem to bother him.

"In my dealings, I never give anything up." The Atlantean said, before walking towards the stadium. "Now, come on, we might find someone whose not preoccupied with being in, or watching, the tournament." The two ghouls followed after him, wondering what he was planning. From what Vincent told of him, it was something unimaginable to the human mind.

* * *

Aerrow waited in the arena, listening to the crowded cheers the pack shouted. His semi-final opponent was Jack and it was going to be tough. The Gaian, not using his guns, would probably put both on an even level; however, there was still the notion of him being half vampire, which meant he was going to be a tough nut to beat...if he was going to beat him.

Speaking of the devil, the black-haired man entered, looking very ragged from whatever he was doing. He then took noticed of the teen boy before smoothing out his hair and straightening out his clothes. Then, he turned to the red-head and said, "So, Aerrow, we're finally facing each other in the semi-finals." Once breathing out, he continued, "Since we both know you have weapons and I am a half vampire, how about we make a deal? If you have your sash on in the next ten minutes or you manage to get my sash during those ten minutes, you win. However, if I get your sash during those ten minutes, I'll head to the finals." That sounded like a fair deal, however, why did it have to be ten minutes?

"Is something going on?" asked the sky knight, raising an eyebrow at his actions. He had a suspicious feeling that Jack might have been planning something. He didn't know what, but it was something.

The half vampire sighed and said, "Let's just say I have a meeting in ten minutes that involves getting the nearest squadron of Peacekeepers over here in case Hawk really is here. Now, are we going to fight or not?!" The young teen was still figuring out whether this was really a good deal or not. However, the other-worlder already made up his mind when the referee appeared.

"Ready… FIGHT!!!"

Before anyone could say anything, the sky knight got sucker-punched in the jaw after the start of the battle. Luckily, he had the grace to land on his feet while taking his daggers out. Looking up, he smirked at his opponent before running to him, aiming a slash at his sash. The black-haired man dodged easily, smirking as if he was the Dark Ace himself. The red head looked at him; it was on now.

For the next few minutes, the battle had been exchanges of sword moves and hand-to-hand combat. Jack was trying to wear the boy down while trying to avoid the edge of the crystal-powered weapons; he may have been immortal but with what had happened, he didn't want anyone else to find out. As for Aerrow, he was getting tired and felt that he wasn't going to last ten minutes with the fighter. He needed to end it soon; he wanted to at least make it to the semi-finals.

"Getting tired, kid?" Jack taunted, before throwing another punch at the teen. The young boy dodged by ducking at rolling to the side, still holding up his daggers. The black-haired man noticed the tired look on his opponent's face. He too also felt tired; but it wasn't ten minutes yet, so he might as well continue.

"So? What if I am?" Aerrow taunted back, "I'm a sky knight, and sky knights don't give up!" And when using his arm to block the older male's punch, the said-sky knight saw the perfect opportunity to win this match. Carefully, he swung his dagger at the man. The black-haired man took notice and moved, having only his upper arm get cut a little bit by the crystal energy. He was about to attack the teen before noticing his solitary stand on the ground; he was now confused.

"… Aren't ya going to attack me?" he asked, ready for anything. But the boy just kneeled down and picked up something. Then, he looked at the half vampire with a smirk on his face.

"Well, Jack, I could do that." The sky knight answered, before holding up what seemed to be a sash, "But I already have won." The crowd suddenly cheered as he raised the sash up, while the black-haired man looked dumbfounded. He then looked at his arm to now figure out that the attack was just a ploy in order to grab his sash. He only smiled, realizing that it was his own fault to coming with such a maneuver.

So in nine minutes and fifty-three seconds, Aerrow had won his third match. There was one more battle before the finals.

* * *

Emma opened her eyes to the cheering of the crowd. '… Someone must have won their match.' She thought, before sitting up from the bench. True, some part of her wanted to have made it to the finals, but she thanked that she had lost before she gotten really hurt. Besides, since everyone was too busy with the fights, she wasn't going to get bugged. Thus, it's was going to be a long rest until the tournament was over.

Suddenly, there was a knock and Kuroi's voice asking, "May I come in?" Well, there goes her alone time. Oh well, she looked over at the door and gave her answer. The black-scaled lizard walked in, almost tired from the training he was doing. He walked over to the girl and sat down. Taking a breath, he looked over at her and inquired, "So, are you okay?"

"Yea, it wasn't that serious. Besides, I'm finally getting the rest I wanted." she answered with a smile and a laugh. Afterwards, she looked down and muttered, "Sorry for the fight. You probably expected more from me when you heard about my lineage."

"Actually, Tokage and I were just expecting you to do your best." replied the Dragonkin as his tail flicked, "We know the war was a long time ago and we also know that people can change. From the way I see it, you were trying to prove something to yourself."

The girl looked shock at this and retorted, "I wasn't trying to prove anything to myself. I wanted to give up before he pummeled me." Then, she huddled her knees to her chest, feeling the ache from previous injuries. "… Look, I'm trying to do what I want to do. And even though I did want to fight, I knew I was going to be beaten. Why fight something that I know is a lost cause?"

Kuroi listened with intent and then replied, "I think you're probably just under-confident in your abilities. My master says that it's okay to know that you can be beaten by someone else. However, he also says to believe in yourself. Then, you can do anything." The human blinked at this, being not impressed at that cheesy saying. Noticing her unimpressed look, he added, "Anyway, just do your best in anything you want to do and the results will come later."

"… So, if you don't talk to Tokage anytime soon, your possible result would be a marriage with her… Or a partnership that involves a love factor or whatever you lizards call it." That caused the black-scaled lizard to blush a purplish red. Was it really that obvious?

".......... W-What are you talking about?" he said, trying to hide his nervousness. If he could have sweat, he would have. However, it didn't help hide the fact that she had noticed.

"Simple, you like Tokage." the girl simply stated, wearing a grin on her face. She would have shown a little restraint on mocking his secret crush; however, she sang in a singsong voice, "You like Tokage! You like Tokage! You like Tokage!" She teased just like his master's grand-daughter, Lee. Except for one thing, the human was more mature.

"… Fine, I like Tokage. I might even love her." he suddenly accepted, "However, she has been with the Raptors and I fear she might have fallen in love with Repton. Not that I don't criticize her choice, she has the free will to think for herself. It's just that… I really like if she chooses me to be her mate."

The Gaian listened with concern, seemingly understanding his problem. Then, with confidence, shot her fist to her face and advised, "Then, don't give up on her! She likes you too! But if you really want her to be your mate, then do everything possible to make her your mate! Shower her with gifts, give her flowers, be yourself, or just admit that you love her to her face; just don't let her go because she might love someone else! And if you did all you could and she still doesn't love you, then be depressed for a little while and move on! There are still probably other Raptors or Dragonkin that might like you… Or humans! Don't cross off the probability of interspecies relationships!"

The white-haired reptilian looked at her face before chuckling. "By the way you said it; you must have a lot of human mates." That statement caused the girl blush a deep red. Afterwards, she just shook her head and looked away.

"… I don't have any boys to date. I just watch a lot of anime." she replied, while shrugging. In truth, she did think about a relationship with the guys at her high school. However, she passed them off as either flirtations or crushes. The lizard just stared at her before chuckling, feeling amused by her statement. The teen raised an eyebrow at his laughter; she didn't tell a joke.

"Awww, how sweet," a new voice said, as the two turned to see a man standing along the doorway. While the girl was confused, Kuroi instantly recognized the man from smelling nothing except cold metal. He leapt at the man in incredible fury. However, Hawk made the skin disintegrate to show his demonic metal arm and slammed the lizard onto the floor with it. Now snapping back into what was happening, Emma was about to spring until the two Ghouls popped out of nowhere and pinned her down. The Atlantean waggled a finger and cooed, "Tsk tsk tsk, that's not a nice way to greet a person."

"You're no person, monster" the black-scaled Dragonkin growled, "Now, what are you doing here?!" The brunette man smiled a psychopathic smile. He knew that no matter how loud his prey yelled, no one was going to rescue them.

"Oh, I wanted to tell someone before I leave to get my ship for the invasion and you two seem not to be busy at the moment," he gloated, before getting close up in Kuroi's face, "Some of your friends discovered our little operation and now are captured in the library. They are… a human Gaian in your tongue, a little girl with fox ears and tail, oh, and a female of your species with white scales and black hair." The two prisoners paled at what he described; he had captured their friends.

"Now, since I'll be a nice person, I'm willing to make a deal with you. Maybe if you trade someone else, like Jack preferably or someone, I shall give back your little reptile unharmed. And if you worried about being blown before the trade, you can think of a way. " Kuroi began to think of his answer. He didn't want to betray his friends, but he didn't want to leave his imprisoned friends with a psychopathic alien.

Several seconds later, the white-haired lizard glared and answered, "No, I will not trade anyone for Tokage. You may see her as a trading chip, but she's much more to me." Emma almost dropped her jaw as the man sneered. To underestimate his generosity was a big mistake.

"Oh, well, if you want it that way," he concurred, as he lifted his arm off the Dragonkin's body and the two ghouls let go of the Gaian. "You should have accepted my offer. Now, if you try to rescue them, the Talons would surely try to capture you too." And with that, Hawk left, along with the Ghouls. The black-scaled reptilian was about to catch him, but once he got outside the locker room, he didn't see the Atlantean anyway.

The brunette girl looked over at the lizard and said, "If you were considering his deal, I would have happily volunteered to be the bargaining chip." As much as she didn't like to be capture, she would rather be the prisoner than let Tokage and the others suffer. Unfortunately, that didn't comfort the lizard one bit.

"I wouldn't have done it anyway. Tokage would not live with herself if she knew that she was nothing more than a tool of exchange. I can also understand that your friends would feel the same way if they knew you were traded without any thought to your well-being." The teen looked shock before looking down in despair; she was only trying to help. The Dragonkin noticed her depression before looking away from her and spoke, "I'm going to rescue the others. You can tell the others when they come down here."

Emma looked up in alarm before saying, "You can't do that! The guards will kill you if you're spotted; and how would Tokage feel about that?!" Kuroi stopped before his first step made contact with the ground. He really hadn't thought about that.

Looking back at her, he asked, "Well, what else am I supposed to do?! Let her be torture, rot, or die in the hands of the enemy?!"

"Well, we gotta think about this first! We don't know what kind of security they have. And even if you manage to rescue them, how are you going to keep quiet?!"

"What do you mean by that?! What does quiet have to do with this?!"

"If word got out that something screwy was going on, half the town is going to get into a battle that's isn't theirs!"

"So, you're saying that I should leave my friend alone!"

"I'm not saying that! I'm just saying we should have some plan before you go out and go gun hoe!"

"Ahem…"

The two turned their heads to a blondish-red haired fox demon, as he sat on a bench like a gentleman. "If you little mortals are done, may I make a suggestion?" he inquired, as the girl and reptilian wondered if he was listening to them all the time. "If you are planning to go to rescue them, then you should reconsider her proposal. She's right about the stealth part; however, I think whoever is guarding them might also have a plan if rescuers are coming." That caused some disappointment for both parties until, "But since they're not expecting a fox demon to come, I'm willing to take on this dangerous mission."

Both looked at the demon in surprise as Emma asked, "But… Don't demons usually provide a contract if people want to use their help. You know, trade in your soul for a million dollars and all that jazz." Vireo and Kuroi stared at her in confusion. Where did she get these ideas?

"True, in most cases," the fox demon said, "However, from what Hawk said, I say that the other fox demon he has is my fiancé. And as well as I don't like her messing around with me, I don't want her to be in any bad guy's hands either. So, I'll rescue her and the two others might come along as well." Then, he noticed a little cat in the corner and muttered, "Unless of course, your little kitty friend objects to it."

The cat morphed into Rhia and answered, "I'm not objecting to anything. It's a sky knight's duty to protect the free citizens of Atmos. I'm going with you, in case we get caught and trickery doesn't work." That didn't give the fox demon any discomfort; in fact, he was actually smiling.

Putting his hands together, Vireo exclaimed, "Great! You two will wait here and we'll be on rescue duty." And both the Wild Cat and fox demon left, leaving the Dragonkin and Gaian alone. At first, there was some relief. But that quickly went south when the girl remembered something.

"Did you hear the word, "Cyclonian" from Hawk?" Emma asked, before both suddenly paled. The Atlantean really did say there were Talons on this terra. And if there were Talons in the terra when everyone was focused on the tournament, then it can't be any good.

Kuroi looked over at the brunette and simply stated, "We got to tell the others."

* * *

"So, you're not going to throw the match?" Tadeh asked, watching Vezeel warm up. The two were in a locker room with the Eurlian fighter stretching her legs for the fight. The other Eurlian just watched, curious about to what her subordinate's motives were for doing such a move.

"Of course I'm not going to throw the match. I'm going to let that slimy jerk work for his win. If he beats me, then at least he earned it with those Enhancers." The blackish-blunette replied, before standing up. "We are both after the same thing; not winning in the final round, but fighting the Sky Knight. However, I might as well have a go at it since he fought and lost a thousand times before, but who's keeping count anyway?"

Tadeh just sighed, and said, "Well, be careful about this battle. Our mission is of greater importance than what these people are planning." And with that, Vezeel just smirked and walked out the door where she was greeted by her adoring fans, so to speak. Ecakrad was also there, fitting his gloves around his hands. The Eurlian smirked, knowing that he was still wearing those crystals. If she could break those first, the rest would be easy.

"Ready… FIGHT!!!!"

In a flash, the male opponent quickly ran up and threw the first punch. She dodged, luckily, but only by a few inches. With those Enhancer Stones on, he was the same level as her. However, she wasn't going down easily like they had planned. His first relied on strength, the other on endurance, and she will have to rely on the method of surprise.

Ecakrad continued to throw attacks at her, while the Eurlian continued to dodge with ease. She read all his movements and could tell when and what he was going to do next. Being tired of this, the cloaked figure threw a punch at her, in which she grabbed, while she threw a punch at him in which he grabbed. "What are you doing?!" he questioned her, quietly; "You were supposed to take a dive."

"Maybe I want to fight the sky knight and you should take the dive." Vezeel taunted before pushing him back. Her opponent growled before high-kicking at her ribs. She dodged, but barely as she winced when it hit her side. Okay, now it was on.

Both fighters were now going at it as the crowd cheered. With Vezeel relying on her natural Eurlian strength and Ecakrad using his hidden Enhancer Stones, the fight seemed pretty even. However, the hooded man had the drive for getting it to the finals. It wasn't for the plan or Master Cyclonis; it was his destiny to fight that bratty sky knight and ultimately exterminate the pest forever.

Luckily, he remembered that Vezeel's Achilles' heel was that she was too proud of herself, which made her a little arrogant in her abilities. If he could get her to let her guard down a little bit, then he could find a way to win the match and move up to the finals. However, his thoughts were cut short when Vezeel round-house kicked him to the ground.

"Hmph, that ought to show him." The Eurlian said, as she approached his non-moving body. She was about to get his sash before realizing that she had made a serious mistake. The man quickly recovered and delivered a swift kick to her gut. She fell down hard on her back, before the hooded figure was on top of her. To the untrained audience, it would have seemed that he was choking her; but underneath his cloak, he was holding a big, glowing-red sword up to her throat.

"Now, here's the deal, you little bitch," he calmly whispered with a hint of anger, "I'm going to take your little sash; because if you attack me, you will get your head cut off by your own arrogance. Now, are you going to sit here quietly or do you want to be killed immediately." Vezeel just lay there, while secretly glaring at her commanding officer...well, a temporary commanding officer by her standards.

'Damn you, you ungrateful ass.' The Eurlian angrily thought, as her opponent grabbed her sash and held it up. Luckily, her fans agreed with her as well, as they booed the cloaked man. She got up and walked into the locker room, where Tadeh was still waiting for her. She put on her calm face as she stared at her superior.

"…Well, Vezeel, I thought you would go ballistic after he pulled that snotty- !!!!!" Tadeh instantly watched her subordinate punched into a wall, which created a deep and sizable crater in it. She could really tell that the other Eurlian woman was in a bad mood. Hopefully that punch made her vent out that anger.

Vezeel looked over at her superior and said, "Damn him, just because they're rivals, doesn't mean that he can go to the finals with his cheating ways! And what makes its worse is that he isn't doing it to win the competition! He's just going to stall until Master Cyclonis shows up along with the army and then kill him!"

Tadeh just sighed, "Vezeel, what I have is more important than this tournament. There is something here that makes this terra's population strong and whatever it is, Cyclonis must want it. The people you infiltrated aren't doing a simple invasion plan; they're going to rob these citizens of that power. And if my theory is correct, nothing will stop Cyclonis and her goons once they have it."

* * *

Okay, a lot of people will probably be mad at me for delaying this chappy… I'll make this quick and then hide under a rock.

Now a story, the inspiration for this fanfic was actually from Deviantart when I watch some artist(s) do some of these drawing tournaments. Ya know, when they draw some comic or picture or flash with their character fighting another artist's character… Yea, this really didn't turn out what I expected it too. My bad.

The Ghouls aren't mine, they belong to Kitten2007. And yes, Vampires do have to have those minions to do their dirty work… Like laundry!

I would like to thank Kitten2007, Hawk-Masters, and Flame Warrior for the reviews! I will try to get the next chappy up soon!

Oh yea, and one more thing, since this is taking too long, I'm trying to decide if I should start off on another fic in the series. I already got the first chappy written, but I think I need to revise it more before posting. Anyway, I'll let you decide because you guys are probably getting bored with this already.

So, Please Read and Review!


	16. Chapter 15: The Break before the Climax

Disclaimer: All characters, places, concepts, and ideas belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 15: The Break before the Climax_

'… Same situation,' George thought, as he examined the surroundings of a book-shelved alcove. '… Different allies to be captured with.' Apparently, he along with Tokage and Osprey stumbled upon a Cyclonian plot to take over the terra, and with their luck, they were instantly captured, thanks to that Casanova full-vampire. Both he and Tokage were taking it calmly since the only thing they could do was wait for a rescue. However, the fox demon had been screaming at the top of her lungs about how this was unfair and how her fiancé was going to get them for this. Because of how much it was annoying them, the Talons decided to knock her out and duct tape her mouth. Well, that was at least one problem solved.

The young man then looked over at young woman, who was supposedly from their world. Victoria, as the vampire called her, was looking away with the feeling of guilt on her face. He knew that she didn't do anything wrong; that Vincent was just using her blood just to be more powerful. So, he comforted, "It's not your fault. I didn't know that the vampires 'ere get their strength from drinking Gaian blood."

The woman looked up in surprised and turned to her fellow Gaian, "I wasn't thinking about that… I was thinking about something else." That certainly surprised the Britain as he went into shock. Surely, she would have some remorse about it.

Gulping, he asked with a bright, red face, "Then… What are you thinking about?" If it had anything to do with anything embarrassing to her, then he would have just leaved it at that. But the woman seemed to be really focused on it.

Sighing, Victoria explained, "Before all this stuff with vampires and evil armies, I was living in California with my musician boyfriend, Zane and working in Divas Dungeons that sold Goth and Punk clothing. It was a really nice life and I wouldn't have trade it in for anything else. But… We got into a fight and I ran out on him. I actually didn't look where I was going and I… Ended up here, as Vincent's blood pack."

George definitely felt mad at her story, not at her but at the vampire himself. It was a similar situation with his older sister. There was no fight or her being transported, but she had disappeared for some time, and when she was found… Well, let's just say that the details were just too painful for him to remember. He wouldn't want any other innocent soul to face the same situation as his sister.

"Why don't you just run away from 'im?!" he questioned with intense rage. "'E doesn't own you! And the PFE would be very 'appy to 'elp you get away from that vampire."

The black-haired woman looked up with hope, before looking down in despaired. "I can't… Even if you do manage to defeat him, how will I get back home? It's nice here, but I miss Zane, and I have my own dreams of being a designer on Earth. And I doubt you can take me back to my home yet; and I mean my real home... So, thanks anyway."

The Britain looked at her with a quivering lip, but before he could protest, Vincent's voice spoke up, "There you are, my precious Victoria." Both captive turned to see the Atmosian vampire standing in the only exit with two Talons guarding behind him. Approaching the woman, he placed a hand upon her face and cooed, "Come, my sweet nectar, Cyclonis is coming with the crystal and I want you to be there for the fitting." The human girl stood there emotionless, as the young teen growled. He wasn't going to take this lying down.

As the vampire and his "blood-pack" (for use of a better word) were to walk out, George called, "You vampire bastard; how dare you use 'er for your own pleasure!" The black-haired creature stopped, before turning to the young man. A sinister smirk was placed on his face, reaching for the human's throat in the process. The room then suddenly gotten silence; well, more silence since the fox demon still had duct tape.

"A human is not above a vampire, especially Gaians," Vincent said, squeezing the captive's neck tight, "However, Gaians are above Atmosians when it comes to blood drinking." He dropped the teen as he continued, "Gaian blood gives me strength, making me stronger than any other. I discovered it during the Gaian war, and I kidnapped a few in order to keep that strength." The vampire then leaned close to the boy, "Unfortunately, I realized that your people's lifespan was about the same as any Atmosian. So, I'm working with the Cyclonians to get my hands on a crystal that makes its user immortal. And once I let my Victoria wear it… Well, let's just say your people are next for my feast."

George instantly felt sick to his stomach. If the vampire discovered their terra colonies, then there were going to be more victims for him to use. And once he had enough for the rest of his immortal life, then he could very easily terrorize Atmos for eons with those enhanced abilities. It would have been terrible, and Tokage even agreed with him.

"You monster! Gaians aren't cattle!" the Dragonkin argued, "If you even dare try something like that, you would surely meet your own destruction!"

"That's right!" shouted the Britain, "You may be the last full vampire on Atmos, but Jack 'as a quarter of blood from Dracula!" That definitely rang a bell in the black-haired man's ears; he suddenly felt intrigue to continue this conversation some more.

"Dracula…? You mean the head Vampire of Gaia that was supposed to be the one of the greatest and deadliest killers." Vincent inquired, before answering his own question. "I have heard about him from Hawk; supposedly he had gotten killed by a man called Van Helsing." Then, shrugging, he continued, "I hope not to face him if my precious Victoria is on the line like right now. So, I'm taking her, along with you to a secret place until the invasion is over." Then, turning around, he waved, "Good bye for now." And then, he left with the girl, Victoria, by his side.

The Gaian looked over at the Dragonkin and said, "Well, 'opefully the others would come. If they don't, you'll be a pawn for Cyclonis to use against Repton, and I'll be vampire food." He was trying to make light of the situation, even though it was a little dark humor. However, the lizard didn't seem to get her being used as a pawn. But she still had the hopeful look on her face.

"Don't worry. Someone will come get us, whether it's our friends or someone else," the white-scaled reptilian said, sounding confident in her statement. George gave out a small smile. At least there was still some optimism among them. Hopefully, it won't run out.

* * *

Both Vireo and Rhia spied on the Talons from the on top of the bookshelves in their small, animal forms. It was necessary for now since the alleys of books were blocked with Talon soldiers, and it would be terrible if they got captured without any way of getting out. Besides, it gave them a better view of the library. And soon, they found where the kidnapped was being held. Now it was time the hard part, freeing them.

"Taking out two guards will be a snap," the Wild Cat said, before looking at the left of the grunts, "However, it might not be quiet if _he _gets involved." The other little animal looked to find the brute commander, Snipe, heading in their direction, probably going to check on the prisoners. They could have still taken them on; on the other hand, their battle might alert more Cyclonians and delay on the rescue, which they couldn't afford. So, they were not between a rock and a hard place.

While they watched the muscular man head their way, Vireo's eyes started to glow. Suddenly, the commander stopped and thus began the one of the most bizarre yet funny sights ever seen. The man's eyes went into a trance and he greeted the air in front of him, "Hello, Ravess." There was silence before he spoke again, "What do you mean "idiot"?! Everything is fine here! … What do you mean I'll mess it up?! … I'm not an idiot; you are! … Stop calling me that! … Okay! That's it!" He then turned to the two Talons and called, "You two! Come with me! I need to have a talk with my sister!" Since they were very confused and really didn't want to be smash, the two guards followed Snipe, much to Rhia and Vireo's luck.

The Wild Cat looked over at the fox demon as he answered, "I made an illusion of his sister insulting him… Nothing new for him." She giggled a bit, finding it funny that the Cyclonian was so stupid to fall for a trick like that. However, she did thank the demon for making it easier than how it would have been.

The two jumped into the alcove as they transformed back to their normal forms. The captured people were glad to see them, especially Osprey with her muffled cries. Vireo removed the brunette fox's gag to hear, "Oh, Vireo! I knew you would save me! I knew you wouldn't let these creeps hurt me! Oh, if you had been here, these Talons would have never-!!!" Suddenly, the blonde demon put the gagged back on her mouth, causing her to glare with irritation.

"We're glad you came," Tokage spoke as Rhia cut off her ropes. The lizard then stood up as she continued, "The Cyclonians are here, and they're not alone." The two already figured out that the Cyclonians from sneaking into the library; however, they were still figuring out who was with them this time. So far, they gotten that it was that android-in-disguise along with two specters.

George was next to get out of his bonds as he continued, "Yea, an obsessive vampire and from what I heard from the guards, a Necromancer." Now, that was could have been a problem. Vampires were one thing, but the stories that ranged behind giving a terra the plague to waking up an undead army. If the Talons were in the possession of that kind of creature, there was no telling what type of activity she would use that power for.

"Well, well, well," a voice said, as everyone turned to see Vincent standing near the door. "I have come to get the other Gaian, but I found a couple of escapees instead." The group instantly went into a fighting stance, all except for Vireo. Being a fox demon, he had a simpler way of getting around.

"Sorry not to fight you, but we have to run." The blonde fox boy said, before making a smoke bomb appear in his hand as he lift it into the air. The vampire instantly recognized the tactic and ran at the group before threw down the bomb, causing smoke to appear. Once it cleared, there was only the creature of darkness still standing; everyone else had vanished into thin air. He smiled an unsatisfying grin, such a pity.

Ravess, Snipe, and the other Talons showed up afterwards, only to figure out they were too late. "Don't bother; they're already back with their friends." The Talons just stood in utter annoyance. There was probably no one to blame, but Ravess had a pretty good idea who to charge for this incident.

"This is your entire fault, brother!" The female commander barked at her brother, "If you hadn't fallen for that illusion, they wouldn't have escaped!" The muscular commander just growled, really wanting to cream his sister for blaming him for a simple mistake. However, the vampire decided to add his two cents.

"Actually, Ravess, this is your fault. You underestimated about who was coming. Even if you had played it safe by placing every guard at every entrance, they found a way around and now, the sky knights have already figured out our plan," the vampire stated, leaving the female commander in a furious rage. The other talons just shivered with fear from his tone of voice. He suddenly went into a creepier appearance as he turned his head towards them and said, "It doesn't matter now. It is already too late and soon, this terra will be under your control. Now, come, our _gracious_ master is waiting for us." And just like that, he transformed into a bat and flew off.

The Cyclonians stood there, looking very peeved. Since when did they take orders from a vampire?

* * *

Lysander wondered through the hallways of the coliseum, looking for the man who had brought him back from the grave. He had questions that needed to be answer; the most important one being why he was reborn. Afterwards, the undead sky knight was going to give whoever did this to him his own reward. No one should be able to bring the dead back to life, especially one who had deserved it for his deeds. However, his train of thoughts was soon cut with he saw the black-scaled Dragonkin carrying the girl who had lost to Ecakrad dashed over to him.

"Lysander!" the reptilian called, before stopping next to the undead's left, "Have you seen Aerrow, Jack or the others?" The blonde man only shook his head, confused. But his response didn't do much for their spirit as he looked at the two. "… Dang it; the Cyclonians are going to invade, and we can't find the others in this place!"

"Wait, the Cyclonians are going to invade?!" questioned Lysander, now forgetting about the resurrection deal. The Talons had a much more notorious reputation than the person he could be after. While the one who did the crime still had a hidden motive, his longtime enemies wish for nothing more than to rule Atmos again with a tyrannical fist. "We must stop them at once!"

"That's why we're going to tell the others." Kuroi said, trying to keep Emma on his back, "However, we can't seem to find them in this place. It would be faster if she wasn't injured. Unfortunately, our current circumstances won't allow any other way."

"… _Current _circumstances?" the sky knight asked, feeling that he shouldn't have asked that. His regret soon came true as the ground started to shake like a wildebeest stampede. The Dragonkin grabbed the undead's clothes and quickly hid, trying to not to lose the girl as well. Once all three were in a safe place, they watched as the Murk Raider grunts madly dashed past them, raising their daggers high in the process. For five seconds, the mob ran by them and once they were gone, the trio looked out at their running form.

After a moment of silence, the undead looked at them and asked, "Those were Murk Raiders, right?" The reptilian nodded, causing the once-living man to sweatdropped. From what he learned about these pirates, they seem to go after valuable things and sometimes supply, ranging from food to actually crew members. "… Why are they chasing after you? You don't look like you could be any use of them."

Kuroi glanced at him and answered, "They're after Emma because she is Gaian and apparently to them, she's almost rare." Now, that made sense; Gaians haven't been around for ages and one appearing would create rarity for her. However, this made another question that needed to be answer.

"Why didn't you just give them to her instead?" he asked, causing both carrier and carry to glare at the man. The undead suddenly felt really out of the loop and again inquired, "What?"

"She may be Gaian, but she is still human," the black-scaled lizard stated before walking out of the hiding place, "No wonder she isn't talking to you after she found out you were Harrier's ancestor. You sound just like him when he found out that she was a Gaian." And once he walked away, it left the sky knight in a state of confusion. This left him with more questions that needed to be answered.

"… Who's Harrier?" he asked himself, before following the two. Little did he know that his legacy of the Rex Guardians still lived on… in an over-pompous way.

* * *

Aerrow sat in the locker room, thinking about his final match. His final match; he knew he would made it this far but he never knew of the consequences of it. Emma's fight, Lysander's resurrection, Dawne going berserk in the second match, Vezeel's disappearance; he knew he should have been investigating them. However, his mind had been too focused on the tournament that he neglected his duties as a sky knight. Hopefully, the red head would help his friends after the match if it wasn't too late.

Suddenly, he heard the door opening and saw that his team mates had entered with smiling. They were probably here to cheer him on, but he wasn't in the mood for it. Of course, he like the gesture and smiled, showing his gratitude. He might as well take their common courtesy.

"So, Aerrow, you're already in the finals now," Finn smirked as he patted the sky knight's back, "Just so you know, you better not mess up because I have a bet riding on your victory." This remark gave the sharpshooter a slap from the tactician. The redhead smiled, still the same as ever.

Piper then looked at him and said, "Anyway, Aerrow, this is great that you are in the Finals." He liked her compliment, but the sky knight still had the activities on his mind. He would have rather throw the fight to help his friends than win it.

"Okay, Piper," Aerrow said, looking at the tanned girl, "Are you sure you guys will be fine?" The others just gave him their usual glance. That was their sky knight, always one to think about others than himself.

"We'll be fine, Aerrow," the specialist soothed, "Jack and his team are looking for leads. If something comes up, they'll notify us." That helped the red head with his conflicting issue. He could always count on Jack to get into corners he can't. He and his crew could go into corners that the Storm Hawks couldn't. Now, he can fight without any distractions, but his mind still showed little concern.

Suddenly, loud cheering was heard and Piper exclaimed, "Oh! We have to get to our seats! The stadium is almost packed with almost everyone on the terra and Dawne along with the Thunder Eagles are looking for seats for us."And with that, his team left, leaving to boy alone.

'Well, this is it.' the boy thought, 'I can do this. I know I can do this. It's not just about the prize; it's about the thrill of the final battle.' Standing up, he walked over to the door with confidence deep in the soul. This was it; his final battle in this tournament. After all the hardships and trials he and his friends went through, he was ready to win this. But it was not for himself, but for the glory of his friends as well.

The sky knight of the Storm Hawks opened the doors to the arena, letting in the blinding light.

* * *

Author's Notes:

I think I died, resurrected, died again, chopped up, liquefied and then got resurrected again. I'm sorry for delaying this. I had too much things to do.

If you had been following the hints and the story, you might have figured out who Aerrow is fighting next. If you want to say it, say it and tell me how you figured it out. I bet everyone is going to say the same thing. Hehe.

The poll is still up, but edited for me and probably everyone else to understand which answers are which. Yea, I kinda realized the problem.

I would like to thank Hawk-Masters, Flame Soldier, Kitten2007, and SakariWolfe for reviewing. For Hawk-Masters, I am going to use your squadron in probably the second part of the invasion. And for Kitten2007, yes, my character is a tease at times.

Until next time, Please Read and Review!


	17. Chapter 16: An Expected Development

Disclaimer: All characters, settings, ideas, and concepts belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 16: An Expected Development_

Aerrow walked into the stadium, being greeted by the huge crowd that completely packed the stadium. It was just like Piper said. The entire population of the local terra was practically in this stadium, which made the sky knight a little worried about the shops or treasures that the Murk Raiders were planning to steal. He then looked for his friends among the mob that seemed to move back and forth. However, his search ended in disappointment when he found none familiar faces; he could have really used their support for the final match.

The red head suddenly looked at where the doors opened to find the mysterious Ecakrad had entered the arena. Yes, the same mysterious, hooded man who appeared unmatchable in raw strength and had won his first match with ease was on the same ground as him. Now with the two of them in the same place standing, the boy felt that he had known his opponent for a long time.

Abruptly, the crowd quieted down the cheering as their leader stepped into his special veranda to watch. He coughed before shouting, "My fellow warriors, the time has come for the two strongest to fight, and see who is the strongest! Now, it may have been disappointing that three of our promising, home fighters had lost their first match, but do not fret - this is our first knowledge of how strong the outside world is! Now, let us see who has the greatest will among the legendary Storm Hawk and the mysterious stranger!"

The people in the stands cheered again, just as the two fighters turned to face each other. In Aerrow's mind, he was contemplating on using his weapons or not: the man in front of him was completely unarmed, but because of his abnormal strength, it would be probably best for the teen to use his daggers to at least block the attacks. He quickly took them out as the man ready his fighting stance.

"Ready… FIGHT!!!"

The two quickly ran at each other. However, the sky knight underestimated the speed of his foe. While in most battles, both equally agile fighters would have met in the middle of their distance. However, due to the man's enhanced speed, Ecakrad managed to past that middle up and appear right in front of his opponent's face, when the other only took two steps from his spot. The red head quickly held up both of his daggers, being saved by a punch from the man. Unfortunately, the force from the punch caused the weapons to almost break off and the boy to almost fall onto the ground.

Okay, he had underestimated the guy, that was a given, but the teen would never had thought that his opponent would be this powerful. It was like that time he was fighting Carver with the unknown demonic blade and he needed Harrier's help to defeat him. But there wasn't anything supernatural about this ordeal. He had finally found someone who could beat him without the use of anything to help the man out even more. Aerrow now had the look of dread upon his face.

The hooded man also noticed the boy's face and smirked with glee under his hood. 'That's right, Aerrow. Know who the better man here is,' the male thought, as he threw another punch at the kid. His opponent quickly snapped of his shock and quickly dodged the attack. The sky knight quickly looked at his opponent and smiled. This was just the beginning of this battle; he still had time to figure out how to defeat this guy. The figure also grinned. He might as well play with his victim a little bit more before fully killing him.

And thus the battle continued, with the crowd cheering their hearts out. Unfortunately, they didn't know of the true depth of this battle or of the consequences that would soon follow.

* * *

Meanwhile, Storm Hawks, Gaian officers, the Thunder Eagles excluding their sky knight, Dawne and Zack were listening to the accounts of Vireo, George, Tokage, Osprey, and Rhiannon during the capture and rescue. Before, the Storm Hawks were about to get to their seats until those five showed up with the Britain asking to contact everyone. And once everyone was with them, Rhiannon and George telling the group about the Cyclonian invasion on terra Colussmis, along with the other details. As they listen, both Atmosian and Gaians had displeasing feelings about the situation. The friendly tournament that this terra had looked forward to every year had now had been corrupted by deception and soon, it was going to be rule by the ones who did the corrupting.

"Oh, I can't believe this!" Piper exclaimed, as she held her forehead in her hand. "Are you sure that the Cyclonians would try to invade this terra at this time?" As much as it sounded like something the Talons would plan, she was still a little skeptic. She knew if the sky knight's eternally long enemy wanted to invade, they would have definitely done it during the tournament, but perhaps sooner during the first battles.

The brunette, young man looked at her and answered, "They would invade 'ere right now! We overheard the grunts talking about it! Besides, the people 'ere like fighting especially in this tournament, and there's almost an entire terra of them watching the final match right now. If someone was wishing to invade, they would surely do it at where people would never notice until it was too late."

"… Attacking the enemy when their back is turn, this is something that Hawk would happily go with." Jack said, his voice not sounding too happy. Everyone suddenly went into a dreaded silence. The Cyclonians were going to invade and almost everyone was defenseless. While they were thinking that, Lysander and Kuroi, who was still carrying Emma on his back, rushed over to them.

"Fellow sky knights, the Cyclonians are going to invade this terra and we must stop them!" the undead yelled, which caused everyone to stare at the three. However, their expressions were not of shock, like they knew it was bound to happen. Then, when the three saw the previous captured people, resulting in Kuroi dropping Emma at the sight of a very much alive Tokage, the preceding Rex Guardian put two and two together and said, "Oh, you must have found out about that too."

"Nice observation, Sherlock," Rufus insulted, though Lysander really didn't get the reference. The sky knight spent his time thinking it over, while at the same time, Junko was thinking about another subject that was on his mind. Since the Cyclonians were going to invade, wouldn't they come up with a way more elaborated plan than just invading the people of Colussmis?

"Wait, wouldn't invading them during the final match still be a risky?" the wallop questioned, causing everyone to look at him. "True, everyone is distracted, but they should still have some of that focus to defeat the Cyclonians when they invade." Everyone nodded at that response. "So, they probably should plan, recon, and learn everything they can about this terra before the final match. While they're at it, they probably sent a few of their people in disguise so they wouldn't be recognize, probably their strongest so one of them would make it to the final match, right?" Then, the engineer then looked at his friends, who had come to the realization as him. One of the Talon's most powerful and deadliest warriors was in the tournament. And Aerrow was fighting against him.

"DAMN IT!" Emma yelled, "I can't believe I fought against him!" Her cries of shame made the others looked over at her, wondering why she was acting like this.

"What's wrong with fighting against _him_?" Dawne sneered, not wanting to mention his name. "Piper said you were in Talon training for a while. Surely, you fought against him before?"

Emma looked over at KIRA and answered, "I never had. In fact, I never fought against any of the Talon Commanders! I was just training myself in secret so I can beat their asses!"

"Well… That's a nice goal. But fighting against them would have made you a lot stronger." Tokage stated, "Why ignore their requests and not fight them?" The Dragonkin suddenly flinched when the Gaian girl glared at her. But the lizard also felt a strange, fierce aura coming from her look.

"Because fighting against them would have left me in the hospital bed! And if you check last time, it almost did!" Emma exclaimed, furthering her regret about going through with her second battle. Not only did she almost die, but the person she fought with was one she knew she hadn't been ready for. The rest just watch as she fell back and lay in solid misery, whimpering, "Give me back my dignity …"

"So, you guys finally figured out who Aerrow is _really _fighting, huh?" A familiar voice said, as everyone, with a few taking out their weapons. In their sights was Vezeel, which made a few lower their weapons except for Jack, Dawne, and Lysander. Knowing them, she considered their reasons to suspect her for being the enemy. However, that didn't stop her from asking, "Now that you know who's fighting, do you know how he can win three times in a row without the use of a weapon?" Confused, they all shook their heads before she explained, "Well, if you had notice his gloves or boots, he has been wearing Enhancer Stones."

This statement caused shock to almost everyone, but produced criticism among the Crystal Mages. "Impossible," Piper spoke, "Enhancer Crystals are just supposed to increase vehicles and weapons' performance!"

"That's right!" Rhia supported, "They were made for amplify inanimate objects' purposes, not the human body. How can he use them to get that kind of strength and speed?!" The Eurlian just watched as the two crystal specialists questioned her response. This made it all the worthwhile to shatter their logic.

"True, it does only enhance weapons and skimmers. But in the code of fighting, anything can be used as a weapon, importantly the body." Tokage and Kuroi realized the truth in her words. Their master had always said that in martial arts, one must train and discipline the body in order to become stronger; weapons were the extension of the body and reflect on their owner's personality and skill. Enhancer Stones enhance the purpose of the weapons, either in strength, speed, or accuracy. Ecakrad just skipped a step and used the crystals for his body.

The entire group suddenly went pale. Aerrow was fighting someone with no hope of winning. Not because of their skill, but because his opponent had gotten stronger without even training properly. If they had known what was going on sooner, the group would have put a stop to this charade. And now, the person who they all admired would probably be beaten or perhaps worse and there was nothing they can do to stop it. That's what they were all thinking until…

"Here, catch."

Piper quickly looked up before catching a very sea-green stone with a metal cross around it. The crystal specialists instantly realized it that it was a Blocker, a crystal that can nullify any abilities by other crystals. They were uncommon, but still carried a high price because of the damage it might do to other working crystals. George blinked at it before looking at Vezeel, asking, "Why give this to us?"

"Because even though we're enemies, I would rather have that guy loses. He beat me with a dirty trick and that deserves retribution." the Eurlian woman explained, causing the others to shiver at the fires of her rage. Then, she went into her seduction mode and spoke, "Oh yes, this is a special blocking crystal that the master made. It works in a five feet radius, blocks the ability completely, and you don't need to touch the crystal in order to activate it. Anyway, see ya." And with that, the mysterious female walked off, leaving everyone in a confused daze with the exception of a few.

"… What was that about?" asked Finn, who was in the same state as the others. Indeed, Vezeel's words still have that mysterious ring to them after she had left. Only Jack knew her "true" identity and how she fit into all of this.

"Didn't you know; she was with Cyclonia the whole time." the vampire answered, causing the whole group to go into shock. Lysander was the one who went paler than the other, even though he didn't have that much skin color to boot. A Talon had flirted with him; he, who was the first Rex Guardian. However, the group quickly snapped back into reality as the Gaian vampire said, "Come on, we need to get that Blocker Crystal into that arena before George has another patient to operate on."

The gang quickly headed into the stands with a limping Emma lagging behind, not noticing Vezeel watching their march. She smirked; her plan to tell them without really telling them had work, in one way or another. And not a moment too soon, since the pieces were moving. Now, it was time to see the finale in full motion.

"You told them?" asked a voice, as the Eurlian turned to see her commander, Tadeh. She nodded, not showing any regret in her decision. The other blue-haired woman lowered her eyes and stated, "Fine, we might as well help these people out. The biggest threat in this battle would be the ship, so we'll have to eliminate that first." Then, she turned to the woman and the spoke in stern words, "Remember, we were created for our races' well-being. We are also here in secret so no one else will know about our race's plans. In order to keep in secret, I shall help the others shut down the ship while you fight against one of them. Understand?"

Vezeel soon genuinely smiled and nodded her head. Finally, she will have a chance against the best sky knight around, if he came on board. Her leader nodded in returned and said, "Good, let's go." And then, the two Eurlian women walked out of the stadium, ready to fulfill their own plan.

* * *

Near the edge of the terra, Ravess watched as the _Armageddon_ landed on the terra's docking bay. Hawk had finally delivered Master Cyclonis to Colussmis, just in time to see the (almost) successfully invasion put into place. To why the master wanted this piece of rock, she'll never know. In her time being here, the commander had found the terra to be nothing of importance and its civilians to be vulgar; a trait that would never do if she was ruling Cyclonia.

The ship made dock with its ramp placing on the bay. And with that, the empress, Cyclonis herself, walked down and over to Ravess. She was still in her usual mode, but it was a little bit happy with the small smile on her face. Since she now held all the cards, her army shall gain this terra and crush the sky knights and their friends as well.

"Master Cyclonis," her magenta-haired soldier greeted. The young teen girl knew that the older woman was just sucking up to her so she wouldn't feel disrespected. "Our plans have been going well this time. Dar- I mean "Ecakrad" is fighting/stalling the Storm Hawk, my brother is watching the fight and keeping an eye on things in the coliseum, and Vincent is trying to make that Necromancer we found raise an army of the undead." Even though her commander said that, they both felt that it was doubtful, especially the necromancer raising an army of undead to help.

"Good," Cyclonis said, before looking up and the ship. "Hawk, I want you to fly your ship above the terra and start firing downward. It needs to be nonlethal fire and not all at once. I don't want my army to die in your fire." She didn't really care about the safety of her soldiers; she just wanted to make sure that Hawk doesn't go trigger-happy while her troops were on foot.

The crackly voice of the Atlantean replied, "Fine, we'll bombard every fifteen seconds." Cyclonis groaned as she overheard his laughter on the intercom. He may have had the most powerful ship in the Atmos other than her own army's, but he was still a pain in the neck. When the ship started to leave bay, she started to walk off with the violinist following her. She needed to get to the stadium before her most "faithful" soldier either wins or loses quickly.

While following the master, Ravess felt that it was a good time to ask, "Why are we attacking this terra? From what we learn, there is no gain if we win except more territory. There are no crystals, no mines, the people are practically idiots."

"But they're strong, Ravess," the dark, cynical teen answered, "And I already know the secret to their strength, how they can live day to day without fear from any of the monsters here. With that secret, I will gain that power to ultimately destroy anyone who stands in my way, including the Storm Hawks."

The commander gulped as she listened to her master's answer, seeming to shiver at the very tone of her voice. "… And that Necromancer?" True, she was still wondering why they needed him in the first place when they already have both Talons and Hawk's troop. The only thing that man would do is only control dead bodies.

Cyclonis just continued walking and explained, "I want this place to be surrounded, with no hope of escape. With Hawk above and ours towards the docks, the undead block entrance to the forest, causing fear and panic among population. And while everyone is confused, I shall obtain that power."

Ravess just walked, somehow feeling that whatever Cyclonis had planned was about to fail. It seemed to be a continuing streak for them ever since the Storm Hawks had been reformed. It had been even more so when the sky squadron gained allies, including those who had been with them. The woman was now being irritated that the Talons were being beaten, even with their most strategically plans being failures due to them. Maybe it was time for the Crystal Mage to step down…

Yes, Ravess should be master when the time was right.

* * *

"Harry" the Necromancer (Not to be confused with Harry the Wizard), was getting ready to resurrect an army that would surely be too much for the people to handle. It would be his greatest feat yet; for if he does this, it would make him at the top with his bosses. However, there were a few problems before he could really do this. One was that his traitor minion, Lysander, would sense the revivification of the army and would warn his newly found friends. The other was that the vampire behind him wasn't giving him much for time either.

"What are you waiting for? Turn every corpse hidden in this forest into zombies already!" Vincent commanded, causing the Necromancer to jump. Being a Necromancer wasn't for any human to be, especially when it comes to the other dark beings of the underworld, including vampires. "If it is about Lysander being around, wouldn't you summoning an army turn him back into his dead self?"

"No, I used the Mana Pools to make him more lifelike than he would have been if I went full power… Now, he is almost out of will." Harry explained, while gulping. That would be a mistake he would never make again. He was going to stick with mindless, flesh-eating corpses from now on.

The vampire just leered, "Well, hurry up then. My darling little Victoria is waiting for me." The man quickly jumped, before focusing his power. A few seconds later, the crystal started to glow, sending an energy pulse throughout the entire forest. It floated in the air before sinking into the ground moments after, and began wrapping around bones and flesh of the fallen.

Afterwards, there was a small earthquake in the forest and then, skeleton warriors popped out of the ground, along with decaying zombies, disfigured monster, and a big, undead, glowing green dragon. Vincent smirked at the Necromancer's work; they now have more than enough to terrorize the terra. The evil creature smirked with absolute joy.

"It's time…"

* * *

Aerrow was flung back into a wall when hit by the man's punch, trying to get up the second afterward. His entire body ached from this fight and it looked like his opponent wasn't even breaking a sweat. The man wasn't even trying to break a sweat as he kicked the kid in the stomach again. The boy quickly dodged but was hit in the ribs, which was extremely painful. Whoever this guy was, he was certainly strong and perhaps a higher league than the sky knight. And if he didn't stop with the assault of attacks and didn't get the redhead's sash, the teen might die.

Struggling to get into his stance, the kid held his blades while Ecakrad watched with pleasure; pleasure that his once formidable was now just a besieged child like he should have been. Throwing another punched, the cloaked figure watched as his opponent fell down again, giving no effort to how he usually fought him. It didn't matter though; he had the sky knight where he wanted him as he was still struggling. As the man approached, he thought, 'One more attack ought to finish him off.'

A sinister smile was placed on his lips when he used the hidden Enhancers to speed up to the kid so that he wouldn't have a chance. Aerrow looked up and suddenly realized what his opponent was going to do to him. Whoever this person was, a previous enemy perchance, was definitely out for blood; and these people didn't even realize it. There was no way to escape from this predicament now. The red head just close his eyes, hoping for a miracle. And luckily, he got one.

"AERROW!" familiar voices yelled as he looked up to see his team along with his friends. The hooded man didn't actually notice them, especially when Dawne quickly jumped into the arena and headed towards Ecakrad's back with a green crystal in hand. Reaching a close distance, she activated the crystal, just in time for the man to make a punch. And when it hit the red-haired teen…

It felt like a soft brush against his face.

The hooded figure went into shock as he watched the crystals on his hands and feet short-circuited from the Blocker's activation. His perfect plan, his wonderful revenge; it was gone due to his dependability on those Enhancers. Oh, the god of cruel mockery was laughing at him, even more so, when his "thorn in his side" rose up and said, "Looks like your strength is gone now."

"… There's more than one way to skin a cat," "Ecakrad" said in a familiar voice, causing the teen to reach sudden realization. Suddenly, the cloaked man whipped out a familiar sword and was about to hurt his enemy, but Dawne quickly flipped over him and blocked the attack with her dual blade. The force between the weapons was great, and at last, the man's hood fell down to reveal to Aerrow's surprise.

"DARK ACE!!!!!"

Yes, for people who didn't realize his identity, "Ecakrad" was really the Dark Ace in disguise, working in the tournament in hopes of also gaining that prize for the Cyclonia Empire. "… And it should 'ave been really easy to figure out," stated George, "'Ecakrad' is actually 'Dark Ace' spelled backwards and without the space." The others just slapped their heads. It was really that oblivious.

"Hehehe, so I've been found out, so what?!" the Dark Ace questioned, "At least part two of this plan will not fail." Without warning, a blast was heard as everyone turned to the source at the leader's balcony. On it, there was a young, teen girl holding their leader captive with a crystal staff to his back. For the people who lived on the terra, they didn't know who was holding their leader captive. But to the Storm Hawks, Thunder Eagles, and everyone else, they recognized her to be none other than Master Cyclonis.

"Sorry to interrupt," the empress began, keeping a tight grip on the old man, "But we are taking over this terra now." And right on cue, a woman screamed when undead warriors burst into the stadium and started to attack the people. The crowd was in panic as they tried to flee from the decaying monsters; some even tried to burst through the undead mob. However, since the enemies they were fighting were already dead and started to regenerate back to their dead, doll-like selves.

The Storm Hawks, Thunder Cats, Dragonkin, fox demons, Gaians, Project KIRA, Zack, and Lysander just stared at the bedlam lying before them. In their minds, they couldn't believe that this was happening right before their eyes. However, Stork was just his usual self as he stated,

"Oh crud… Well, I knew this was going to happen."

* * *

Author's Notes:

Finally! The Finals are done and here comes the invasion! And since it's going to be a big invasion, it might take up two chapters. I will hope to get those up soon!

I bet everyone had figured out that the mysterious fighter was really the Dark Ace. I really didn't put much effort into making his secret identity a "secret". If any peeps didn't figure it up until now… I'm not going to say anything.

And like before, I do not own Harry Potter. I only mentioned that because oddly, I name the Necromancer "Harry" and he does magic… I SWEAR, I wasn't thinking about Harry Potter when I picked that name.

Also, I would like to thank Hawk-Masters and NekoNekoMinako for the reviews! NekoNekoMinako, Dawne got some screen time here, and she and other characters will have more in the next chapter. And for Hawk-Masters, the squadron will probably appear in Part 2 of Invasion.

Please Read and Review!


	18. Chapter 17: The Ancient Secret

Disclaimer: All characters, settings, concepts, and ideas belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 17: The Ancient Secret_

It has been a few minutes since the invasion of Terra Colussmis had begun, and it was bedlam within seconds. The entire population was in panicked from what has been going on. If it hadn't been the bombardment from above their heads, it was the undead that were hard to kill. Yes, the entire terra was in chaos and the Lord of Nightmares was loving every minute of it.

Meanwhile at the docking bay where a squad of Talons being lead by Ravess was coming from, Aerrow and his team, Jack, Rufus, Stauffenburg, along with Zack and Dawne were figuring out what to do about the invasion. The Talons and Undead were pretty big obstacles, but it was the _Armageddon _that was doing the most destruction because of its weaponry. There was also the fact that Cyclonis and Dark Ace had disappeared, along with the leader of this terra and with no clue to where they are. So, the best course of action was to take down the ship's cannons before it could hurt any more civilians. Now, they just needed to come up with a plan.

"Okay, here's the plan," stated Piper, "Junko, Finn, and Stork will use the Condor as a distraction, diverging half of _Armageddon_'s fire from the terra. While they'll do this, the rest of us will sneak onto the ship and head into the engine room, where we will try to cut off the power to weapons. Then, we'll have to get out of there before the BloodRaynes try to get us." Her plan seem pretty decent, especially the BloodRaynes part. "Now, any questions?"

"Yea, do you know that the Condor will be toast? Or did you forget, we have no shields!" cried Stork, who was practically having a panic attack from thinking about it. Other than any Talon, Murk Raider, or PFE ships, the _Armageddon_ was like the most powerful ever built. And the merb knew that if _his _Condor was to face that ship, it would last for a single second.

Rufus looked over at Stork and replied, "I'm also going to be on the Condor, providing the shields to protect it." He then took out a box-like machine that was known back home as a weapon to generate high-class barriers even around big objects in Earth's future. Of course, most were wondering why they would bring the machine along, but Stork didn't care; his Condor was safe for now.

"On another note, I won't be there to help you guys take down the ship." Jack said, while looking over at Aerrow. The young sky knight knew what the man meant, but he still didn't like it. The older Gaian was going to take down Hawk in terms of revenge. As much as the boy felt that was wrong, he didn't have time to argue because of the invasion. And maybe a distraction from the half-vampire would actually help with their mission after all. So, he'll allow it, for now anyway.

Giving a nod in consideration, the Storm Hawks' leader gave his consent, showing that it was time for their task to take effect. Everyone smiling, there were now going to take on the flying behemoth himself, but not without some help from some supplements. "Here," Stauffenburg said, before taking out what looked to be pills, "Take these before we go. It will completely heal you of your wounds from battle."

Aerrow, Jack, and Rufus grabbed the medicine capsule before putting them in their mouth and swallowing it. The teen wasn't sure about the others, but he instantly felt better after taking those. Then, he looked at the German and said, "You better give those to the others, especially Emma since-" Then, he looked over to the others were and finally found out, "Hey, where are all the others?"

True, it seemed that they were the only ones who were doing the mission for the moment. Even George and Ingo seemed not to be with them for this important operation. "There probably doing something else," Zack reasoned, "There are still the zombies and Talons to worry about." That was true, and their group was fine. They really didn't need a big group to wreck the engines room anyway.

"Alright then, let's go!" the sky knight called, as the group sprang from their hiding spot and headed inside the Condor. Even though it looked okay, he still worried over one detail. If Cyclonis was here, then whatever she was after on this terra couldn't be good.

* * *

In her own little hiding spot, Emma watched at the turmoil in front of her own eyes. 'Crazy… Too crazy,' she thought, trying to control her body to stop shaking. The situation was too much for her to handle since it was happening around her, but she couldn't, she wouldn't let herself feel fear. Fear will always lead to panic, and her panicking would lead to her doing something stupid. Breathing out, she finally calmed herself and watched the undead warriors ransack. She knew that she couldn't do anything so the best to do was to hide and hope no one will discover her.

Suddenly, her vision went dark and a familiar voice asked, "Guess who?" The Gaian quickly reacted by breaking away to get her eyesight back and turning around to see Snipe, who was laughing his usual laugh. "Awwww, are you still peeved that you lost to Dark Ace?" The girl just held her fists up and backed away slowly. However, it still looked like her was getting bigger with each step she took backwards. "Trying to run away as usual?" he asked, before grabbing her arm. "That won't work now."

The brawny man then punched her in the chest, causing her fall down flat. The teen got up, feeling not only the pain from the blow, but the extreme soreness from fighting against the Dark Ace. She still crawled slowly away from the giant Talon, but it was completely useless as he grabbed her shirt collar and picked her up to his face level. She didn't struggle, knowing that any attempt would further damage her body. Oh well, at least it was a good run while it lasted.

"Awwww, is that a gift for me?" asked a voice, as Snipe looked up to see Vincent. He growled, not wanting to see the vampire twerp at this moment. He already had the brat in his hand, and no one was going to ruin the moment for him.

"Back off, bat! I'm already giving her to someone else!" he shouted back at the black-haired creature, causing his captive to look shock. What did he mean that "someone else" wanted her? Could this mean that Cyclonis still wanted her for something? … No, the bratty empress would probably just use her older sister for whatever she had evilly planned. The girl was about to ask who exactly wanted her. But before she could even open her mouth, the Talon Commander was hit by a yellow energy blast and then punched in the face, causing him to drop the girl and become unconscious.

Emma, wondering why the "ouch" factor was being high for her today, looked up to see Ingo right next to her. "Heh… You really do get into trouble without trying, huh?" he said, causing her to go completely stun. "Luckily, we were following you when it happened." She then went into confusion before turning around to see that she was indeed followed by a "we". George, Lysander, Tokage, Kuroi, Vireo, and even the Thunder Eagles were standing behind the two, surprisingly to her. She didn't even know that she was being followed.

"… Why did you follow me?" the Gaian asked, still confused by why she had these people with her instead of with the Storm Hawks. They were more professional than her, and they probably were leading the charge against the invasion. The only thing she wanted to do was to hide.

"Well, I was following Ingo, and I think 'e wanted to take on someone." George answered, sounding truthful with his British charm.

"It's a sky knight's job to protect the weak and helpless," said Rhia, with her crew nodding.

"The man who resurrected me is still here, and as an ex-sky knight, I must bring him to justice," Lysander replied, grasping his sword tightly.

"Kuroi and I hate Talons. We might as well stop them before they destroy another terra," Tokage responded, with her childhood friend standing strong beside her.

"Meh, I just hate heights," Vireo responsed while shrugging his shoulders.

The brunette blinked, as she looked at all of them. Some of their reasons were good, while some were selfish. But it still didn't explain the one thing that she wanted to hear right now. So, she asked again, "Why did you follow me anyway?"

The group was about to answer again, before they heard the poking sound of a vampire trying to wake up an unconscious Talon. "Hey, Snipe, wakie wakie," Vincent cooed, poking the still KOed commander. After several seconds of no response, the black-haired man stood up and turned to the group. "Well, since the human is out, I might as well fight one of you at least." He simply stood there as only the Russian smirked. It seemed that he got his opponent to fight against him.

Ingo smiled, cracking his knuckles with his strength. "It looks like I'm going to take on batty." He said, before looking at the others. "Tokage, Kuroi, you take the girl to safety! Everyone else can do whatever they want other than helping me!" The Dragonkin nodded before picking Emma up and carrying her with them. The others just looked towards each other, realizing what they had to do.

"Okay, you guys go help as many people as you can," ordered the Wild Cat to her squadron, "I'll go find Cyclonis!" Her team nodded before heading out to the danger zone without their sky knight. She, however, transformed into her big cat form and started to track down the nefarious, child empress.

George turned to Lysander and shouted, "Come on, we 'ave to find your master and give 'im a good licking." The two headed out, with the fox demon following after them. He was bond to get bored if he just sat there, doing nothing. So, he might as well follow these two and see what happen with a little of his help.

The Gaian man smirked at the almost empty alleyway and then, he turned to Vincent, asking, "So, are you just going to stand around or are we going to fight?" From his experiences with Jack and Mikki, he knew they can stand against anything but psychic attacks. However, since this adversary was a full Atmosian vampire, the Russian might as well applies those rules to him as well.

"Don't get too cocky, Gaian. I have something else besides my delicious Victoria to help me." Vincent said before raising his arms into the air. His fingers started to grow longer as webbing started to form in between them. The vampire also started to get bigger, as his clothes disappeared and short, black fur started to cover his body. A small tail appeared from his backside just as his hands and arms suddenly became wings. His face grew more bat-like as his nose turned up and his ears grew big and pointed. However, two horns grew out from his forehead and soon, Vincent had turned himself into a demonic bat; his other **other **form besides human and small bat.

Ingo just stood there, thinking, 'So, he's the kind that turns into a big, scary bat.' It wasn't before long the monster flew at him, and he quickly took out his gun and fired. However, the vampire just took the bullet and then swiped his wing at the human. The man fell back, realizing his first mistake at using a gun against a vampire in the first place. Their usual weaknesses were garlic, a stake through the heart, the cross, or the sunlight, in which he didn't have on hand. Maybe he should have let George stay so he could have a supernatural edge against the beast.

"_**Those dinky bullets won't do any affect against me**_… _**And the sun won't kill me as long as I have my Sun-Blocker Crystal on**_," Vincent said, as his wing pointed to the crystal choker that surprisingly stayed on his next. "_**Now**_,_** shall we still continue**_?" The Russian growled; this was bad, even for him. However, he wanted a challenge and he finally got one. So, he just stood up and charged at the creature with gun in hand. Either way, he wasn't going to give up and surrender to a pretty boy.

* * *

If one looked into a mind of an undead, it would be blank. The only things to exist will be never but destroying all life. Now, if one were to look into the mind of a _**controlled **_undead, it would be want his master want. And what "Harry", the person who resurrected the undead army, wanted was to surround the civilians and attack any who try to escape. However, it was still the same as any other thought the undead would have. Thus, all they were thinking was surrounding and killing.

But, unknowingly to person who was controlling the undead, there was another who was trying to pry domination into at least one undead skeleton. The skeleton warrior continued to hack at anything alive that was moving, but its thoughts were slowly changing. From just killing humans to killing something else, but it didn't know what that something else was…

'Kill humans… Kill… Humans… Kill… Kill…Kill…'

'_Kill Undead_!'

Just as it heard its command, the skeleton warrior started to hack his sword at his fellow undead. Watching this scene and hidden from plain sight was Vireo, George, and Lysander, in which the brown-haired Gaian was in a trance. For Lysander, he didn't know why the warrior started to attack his fellow undead soldiers, but Vireo had a hunch when the Britain got into a trance and started to mumbled gibberish.

"A dark art control spell, huh?" the fox demon stated, before looking over at the young man, "I thought priests weren't suppose to use that kind of magic." He didn't know much about Gaian culture, especially the western kind; but he did know that black magic wasn't supposed to be use by those of the Holy Order. And he also knew that there was only a special few that can use magic, and even less for stronger such as the control spell. Whoever this human was must have had a few sorcery members in his family ancestry.

George looked back at the blonde-haired fox and answered, "Well, this is what I get for being the descendant of Morgan Le Fey." Oh, well, that explained the magical powers then. He then looked over at Lysander and said, "Okay, that guy is going to help you with the undead warriors and monsters. However, it's not going to be enough as they can come back to life. But that's not the objective … The real objective is to cause a big distraction for the Necromancer to notice and once he comes down, you try to destroy whatever he's using to resurrect and control the undead. Understand?"

The undead sky knight nodded, before saying, "I shall do that. But I ask you this; you will not interfere with my battle." And before he could get any answer from the two, the blonde quickly headed towards the battle and started to hack at the undead along with his controlled partner. Even if those two didn't understand, he knew that this was his own battle. That man who resurrected him must pay for his crimes against not only the people of this terra, but himself as well. His old, once-alive self knew this all too well, and thus, he would bring this Necromancer to justice.

For a few moments, the hacking against the zombies continued, before "Harry" took notice of the carnage. Quickly, he commanded his undead dragon to fly down to scene to figure out why his servants were being confused. Once landing, he hopped off his ride and yelled, "What is going on here?" He then noticed the skeleton warrior beating up a rotting zombie corpse and started to yell at it instead, "What are you doing? I thought I commanded you to keep the people of this terra at bay?"

"But what about me?" a hauntingly familiar voice spoke, causing the necromancer to turn pale. He silently turned to stare at his once-controlled puppet, Lysander, who wasn't pleased to see him. "Why did you resurrect me? Why did you made me enter this contest? What is my purpose in this modern world?"

"Harry" watched the advance made by the undead and slowly started to walk back and hide behind his legion of soldiers. After that, he answered, "W-Well… I needed a pawn to enter for me since I wouldn't last a minute, and if my pawn won, he would steal the energy from this terra to help resurrect our lord." As much as his honest confession, would probably lighten his divine punishment. However, that made the Rex Guardian angrier.

"Is that your reason? To make me fight and steal?" Lysander yelled, holding his sword up for a slice. "Not only have you wronged the living, but you also have wronged the dead! And for that, you shall be brought to justice!" By that time, the sky knight had attacked and the Necromancer held up his crystal for defense. Fortunately for him, the crystal quickly glowed and it seemed that it still had a little bit of control over Lysander as his sword stopped inches from "Harry's" neck.

The golden armored man struggled with trying to slice off his foe's neck, while the man just laughed and gloated, "Ha! It seems that I still have control over you!" Before the Necromancer could gloat any further, the blonde growled before swinging the sword again. The man yelled before running away, calling all his minions to attack the undead sky knight. He, however, continued to slice at the skeletons and zombies, no matter how many times they got back up. He wanted to get the man, to make him pay for his crimes against nature.

George and Vireo watched this, with sweatdrops forming on their heads. As much as they would stay back and watch Lysander beat the mob, it seemed that it would have been better to help him than let the person who was controlling them get away. The fox demon looked over at the young man and asked, "Do you think you can control the zombie soldiers?"

The Gaian looked over at the blonde fox and answered, "Probably just a handful, and even if I can control the entire army, they will still be taken over by that stupid crystal." Yes, the crystal that the Necromancer had was a bit of a problem for our fighting hero there. The only thing they could do was wait and watch for a miracle to happen.

* * *

The Condor flew right next to the _Armageddon _and returned the fire that the gigantic ship fired at the people below at point-one percent. It wasn't really much against the leviathan, but it still grabbed their attention to fire at the carrier. Luckily, the temporary shields started to hold out as long as the generator was running. Now, Aerrow and his team of infiltrators were ready to storm the battle ship… Well, they were almost ready.

"Okay, is everyone here?" he called, as Piper, Dawne, Zack, and Stauffenburg nodded. The only one who wasn't there was Jack, who mysteriously disappeared. He then suddenly reappeared in brown leather pants, and a metal, spiky arm guard that covered his left arm. The half vampire also was carrying a sword, which was strange since he only dealt with long-range guns. Oh well, at least he was ready now. "Okay, let's disable this ship!"

"Moving Condor into position." Stork's voice called on the intercom, as the Storm Hawk's airship started to move closer. It wasn't that close though, since the merb's paranoia only limited their jumping distance twenty-five feet. At least it would have been enough for to make the jump. The group waited until there was a break in cannon fire. Then, they leaped from the platoon towards the ship side. That was when they realized that there was no way inside and crashed landed right through the wall.

"… Everyone okay?" asked Zack, as he and his fellow "dismantlers" laid in a pile on top of each other. Other than the bruises on their bodies, they were fine. The only problem was that there was one person missing as the spiky brunette saw. "… Where's Jack?"

"Probably separated and heading to where Hawk is," answered someone familiar, as everyone quickly shot up and pointed their weapons at none other than Vezeel. The Eurlian raised an eyebrow and commented, "I gave you an enhanced Blocker and you are thanking me by threatening me? What lousy friends you are." Even though they weren't friends, Aerrow, Piper, Dawne, and Zack felt a little mortified and lowered their weapons.

"How did you find us in here?" asked Stauffenburg, who still had his gun out and pointed at the blue-haired woman. He still didn't trust her after what Jack said about her being a Cyclonian spy. If she was on Hawk's ship with them, that meant she was trying to stop them from destroying the weapons' system.

"Well, I jumped with you when you were on the Condor. Why did you think there weren't any Talons around?" she answered, while everyone sweatdropped. Yes, while they were talking, Vezeel was beating up any Talon that came near the carrier and hid the entire bunch she beat up behind carts, tied up. Shrugging, she continued, "Anyway, since I have no interest in Cyclonis ruling these people or anything else about this invasion, I'm just going to let you go. However…" She then pointed at Aerrow. "In return, he has to battle me."

Piper was the first to object to the idea as she said, "No way! We need to shut down this ship! Besides, the BloodRaynes will be harder without him!" BloodRaynes were known for their sense of leaving their enemies in "pieces". If they ran into them while heading towards the engine room, they at least needed their sky knight to help fend them off.

Aerrow looked at the crystal specialist and responded, "Don't worry about it. You also have Dawne with you. Besides, I doubt she's going to let us go without me fighting her." He then looked over at the Eurlian, who was already cracking her knuckles with a delighted smirk on her face. The sky knight just took out his daggers and went into his battle pose. And it wasn't before long that the two headed towards each other.

Vezeel didn't take too long for her to quickly punch at Aerrow and when he dodged, roundhouse kick at his mid-section. The redhead took the force of the attack and slammed into a wall. His realization kicked into the fact that she didn't seem worn down from her fights with Dawne or the Dark Ace. This prove more so when she threw another punch at him, making the sky knight dodged again and see a crater made by the punch. With that, he commented, "You must have taken A LOT of vitamins."

"You don't know the half of it," the blue-haired woman said, as she started to attack the red head again. Meanwhile, the others watched, amazed by how each one was matching each other in skill. Aerrow was an acrobat, associating his attacks with air stunts because of his dog fights. For Vezeel, she had guerrilla tactics, which made it a lot easier to surprise her enemy. Either way, it was anyone's match at the moment.

Suddenly, Dawne grasped something and questioned, "Shouldn't we leave and head to the engine room before whatever these BloodRaynes are come here?" For KIRA, she hadn't seen one before, but she was about to when they turned a corner to spot them. A humanoid monster, at least as big as the roof of the hall, appeared walking out on a corridor. It wore a big trench coat, with pants, and looked pasted together with dead flesh, with tubes coming out of his neck. Luckily, it didn't spot Vezeel and Aerrow; but the downside was that it now spotted them and started to use his grenade launcher-looking gun on them.

"RUN!" shouted Stauffenburg, as he and the others started to run. The BloodRayne continued to follow them, still firing its gun shells at the group. As they tried to escape the overgrown monster, they twist and turn through the corridors, not knowing if they were getting closer or farther away from the engine room. Thankfully, they were going to get help.

Another figure appeared in front of them in the next left and shouted the most cliché line, "Follow if you want to live!" Well, they didn't have a choice in the matter as they we're being chased by a big monster with a huge launcher. The group quickly turned the corner and followed the woman. Stauffenburg was surprised as he recognized the person helping them as Tadeh.

"What are you doing here?" the German questioned, angered at her appearance after she gave him a degrading speech. The others just figured that he knew the Eurlian from somewhere and just shrugged. They really didn't have any time to care about this now.

"Helping you, why else?" she answered as she continued to lead the others to the engine room. She didn't have time to complain to that guy if he was going to continuing his belief on how "humans are the best race around". It wouldn't be long before Cyclonis gets what she wanted from this terra, and stopping this ship would be one less problem to worry about. They just needed to find that dang engine room first.

* * *

Hawk watched as the "ants" scurried on the ground. It was useless since the fire power of his _Armageddon _was blasting the earth into small, but effective craters. Being Atlantean, he couldn't help but smirked at their misfortune. Ah, how he loved war and its cousin, carnage.

"_Sir, there are intruders on the ship,_" said one of his men on the intercom. Finally, the so-called "heroes" are now charging in to save the terra. Hopefully, he would find them to "play" with them. After all, he watching the "ants" being killed by his guns still didn't have the flavor of gutting your own enemies into shreds.

"Go in and slice them up. Make sure that there are n-!" Suddenly, the door burst opened as the "robot-in-disguise" watched Jack come into the control room. He only smirked at his appearance and greeted, "Hi again, Jack. Here to get your petty revenge against me." Strangely enough, the half vampire just stood there, grasping his sword.

"**Jack isn't here at the moment**," a new, dark voice said as the figure pointed his sword at Hawk. The Atlantean should have seen this coming. Apparently, when the man was fused with Dracula's blood, he was also fused with half of Dracula's life, creating a split personality. So now, Jack let Dracula take over his body so he could fight against the mecha-beast. "**Hawk**...**Ready to Die**?"

"I see," Hawk stated, before morphing into his menacing real form. Then, the two started to fight as sparks from the clash of steel. It was rage versus rage as both machine and supernatural being fought inside the control room. For Jack/Dracula, it was for the usage of his body for a horrific transformation. For Hawk, it was the times that the American foiled his plans. Either way, someone had to face the consequences of their actions.

The fighters were in a stand-off as Jack/Dracula asked, "**What are you doing invading this terra**?** Other than territory**,** it's just another hunk of rock**." The Atlantean smiled as he threw the king of vampires in a half-human body against the wall. Even though Cyclonis hadn't told anyone her true objective, he pretty much figure out what she was doing.

"In the midst of chaos, no one will notice that their most treasured possession will be missing until it is too late," Hawk taunted, before getting kicked in the face by Jack/Dracula's foot. The metallic monster was pushed back, making the half-vampire escape his clutches and attacking his shoulder with the blade. 'A minor flesh wound' the creature thought, as he looked at the Vampire King again. He might as well play with him a little more before the climax.

* * *

Rhia quickly caught up to Cyclonis, who was keeping Terra Colussmis' leader hostage. The wild cat followed closely behind, making sure that she wouldn't be seen by the empress or else, the entire mission would be compromise. However, the strangest thing was that instead of heading towards the terra hall where Cyclonis would have a treaty sign, the group was in a tunnel on the edge of the woods.

Quietly, she continued to follow, making sure she wouldn't be seen. Strange or not, the cat girl needed to figure out why the master was walking down a dark tunnel when she could have been back in her nice, comfy fortress. She wasn't like Starling with her disguises and recon technique, but she was good with stalking people. However, she quickly stopped when she saw the Dark Ace in front of her.

"I knew a sky knight would try to follow Master Cyclonis," Cyclonia's top commander said, "Never thought it was going to you." Luckily, the crystal specialist had the same score as Aerrow when it came to this guy. Besides, with him using those Enhancers throughout the tournament, he was bound to be rusty.

"Well, if you were expecting Aerrow, you would have probably lose anyway." The sky knight replied, while standing tall. "In fact, even before you say "what", you would already been beaten." And just when the Dark Ace was going to say the special word, Rhia sucker-punched the man right in his face. He quickly fell down, confused by the sudden attack. The wild cat just smirked as she said, "I was right, you are rusty."

She admired her work before heading off to where Cyclonis and the leader were. Once a few feet away from them, the sky knight hid behind a rock in case the empress turned around and notice that she was being spied. She peeked out, staring in awe of what was in front of here. There at the end of the cave, was a big, green crystal, pulsating as if it was alive. No wonder Cyclonis went through the trouble of keeping everyone else occupied; her real target was this stone.

"I beg you, Cyclonis. Don't take the Mana Stone's power," the old man said, as the mage equipped a Drain crystal onto her staff. "This terra unconsciously depends on its power. If you take it away, our spirits will be drain as well!"

The Cyclonian leader just glared at him and responded, "I don't care about this terra. If the legends are true, then I could be the most powerful in all of Atmos. And the sky knights will have no other choice other than surrender." She soon pointed the Drainer at the green crystal and started to drain its power. By the rate it was going, it would only be less than a minute that Cyclonis would have its source. Being the sky knight that she was, Rhia couldn't sit back and watch. And so, she leapt from her hiding place and tackled the empress.

"You really should watch your back in situations, such as these," the crystal specialist taunted, as she cracked her knuckles in triumph. However, it was too late as the black-haired girl started to glow with immerse power. The wild cat move back as the teen floated up, with energy flowing around her. The staff glowed as well, the Drain Crystal now becoming the source. Her eyes opened, showing that power coming from it. Cyclonis was now the most powerful being in the Atmos thus far.

They were screwed.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Here's Chapter 17, part 1 of the invasion. Part 2 will come up soon as I write this.

Some people might complain that I screwed around with the aspects. And I probably did it, whether by mistake or for the sake of plot. Hopefully, you guys won't be that mad at me for it, right?

Also, I do not own the Lord of Nightmares. That belongs to the creator of Slayers. Yea, I'm still on that crossover bit for those who are probably tired of these references. I also don't own the BloodRaynes or their design. The BloodRaynes belong to Hawk-Masters and their design is based off Nemesis from Resident Evil series. I also do not own Jack's alt costume or the line he/Dracula said. Those are from Blade Trinity. Or anything else you can see.

I would like to thank Kitten2007, Cold-heart-Angel23, and Flame Soldier for reviewing. For Kitten2007, missing the point that Ecakrad was just an obvious Dark Ace backwards was just a minor miscalculation. People missed stuff all the time; it's not the end of the world. I would like to also thank Hawk-Masters for betaing this chapter.

The conclusion coming up soon, so please Read and Review!


	19. Chapter 18: Noble Sacrifice

Disclaimer: All characters, settings, concepts, and ideas belong for their respective owners.

_Chapter 18: Noble Sacrifice_

"_You pitiful fools_…" An empowered Cyclonis snarled as the energy swirled around her, "_You think that you can defeat me now_, w_hen I have all this power_?" She swung her staff at the sky knight and Colussmis' leader, which made an energy wave and knocked the two back against a wall. Rhia cringed; that blast was like nothing she had ever felt before. Seeing how they recoiled from her attack, the empress manically laughed before disappearing into thin air.

After the Cyclonian leader left, the Wild Cat took no time into checking herself. So far, it didn't look like it was serious. But that power… Cyclonis could have easily killed them if she wanted to. Could it be that she can't control her newly-gained power? The crystal specialist then noticed the old man checking the big crystal before he muttered, "Good, it still has a little of its power left."

"… Okay, what is that crystal and why did Cyclonis try to drain it?" exclaimed Rhia when she stood up. It was a few seconds before the leader looked at her with an expression that gave her chills.

"This crystal is known as the Mana Stone," he started with a monotone voice, "All crystals come from mana, but they are different from each other by their environment and the specialist. The Mana Stone is the only one made up of pure mana and with it; we gather our strength, our courage from this crystal. Our terra relies on it for the sake of our lives.

"This tournament was created for our own amusement but after the final match, the leaders would take the winners to this very spot and they would give a piece of the stone to them. Then, the champions are sworn to secrecy, making sure that no one would be able to use the entire crystal for malicious purposes… We extended the tournament to the outside, hoping that there were those who would keep this secret for us as well. But we never thought that this would happen…"

Rhia listened and suddenly, she turned pale. Cyclonis must have "interrogated" one of the past winners and learned about the Mana Stone's existence. And with that, the empress had more than a motive to invade Colussmis. Gulping, the sky knight asked, "And if one person has all that power, even a large portion of it?"

The old man turned towards her and answered, "Then Skies help us."

* * *

Aerrow was tired, almost ready to collapse from exhaustion. His fight with Vezeel left him out of breath and out of ideas. For every move he tried to throw, she figured out some way to counter it. And while he was drop-dead exhausted, she was still peppy as ever. It made him wonder how she could still be standing after so long.

"What's wrong, kid? Getting tired?" asked the Eurlian as she approached the Storm Hawk. Seeing on how he look like he was about to fall down, she might as well end it. After all, she did prove that she could beat the sky knight while all others have fail. When she was getting ready for the final blow, a flash appeared between the two. She covered her eyes, wondering if this was one last trick from the kid. However, once the light dimmed, it was just Cyclonis, who looked radioactive for some reason.

Looking at the red head, the master sinisterly said, "_Aerrow_, _you are going to be my first victim to my power_." Both the boy and woman suddenly turned pale. For Aerrow, it was the fact that Cyclonis had changed. But for Vezeel, it was for Cyclonis taking the finishing blow.

"Oooh no, this is my victory! You have no right to take away my pride after I work so hard for it!" the blue haired woman exclaimed, clenching her fist. The girl just looked over with a vicious glare, before shooting an energy blast at the Eurlian. The target fell back against the wall at rapid speed, cringing in pain. The red head went into shock before staring at Cyclonis. How did she get so strong all of a sudden?

"_I do not need you anymore_! _I do not need anyone_!" the young empress said before turning the sky knight. "_You're next_." Before he could have said something, he was shot by an energy beam. He struggled, feeling the intensity of the beam. The blue-haired woman growled before trying to stand up. However, another beam was shot at her and soon, she was feeling the same pain as the kid.

The evil mage smirked before turning to face Aerrow, "_And now_…_ Time for your demise_!" She then increased the beam's power, wanting to slowly but surely kill the young sky knight. Suddenly, the boy's eyes shot wide open and, he let out a painful scream.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

* * *

Crashing on top of a roof, Ingo cringed as he made a crater in the stone top. He seemed to have underestimated the oversized rat with wings a little bit. He tried aiming at the crystal choker, but that dang creature was too fast. Not to mention that him flying around was making it even harder. The good news was that the big bat was now next to him. Unfortunately, he lost his gun in the battle.

The vampire's ears suddenly twitched, as he turned his head to the ship. "_**It seems that Master Cyclonis has found what she was looking for**_…" He then turned to his prey with a hungry look in his eye. "_**I might as well finish this battle**_. _**I'm almost famished from our little battle**_." The Russian man was about to get up and punch; however, Vincent slammed his claws onto the human's chest, piercing into the skin like daggers. He then proceeded into his ritual of sucking blood.

The human's eyes became big as the monster's head inched closer to his neck. Is this the way it was going to end? Having his blood be suck out by an oversized bat? Ingo felt the bite into his neck and winched from the pain. The monster started to drink, getting pleasure from the liquid, until…

His eyes shot open as he quickly moved back into human form, moved far away from the man, and spitting out the blood he drank. "_Phht! Phht!_ What is that stuff?" The taste was like poison on his tongue and it made him sick like the Murk's blood. Was this man even human?

"Of course…" he heard the Russian spoke in a solemn voice, "I was in a chemical explosion, resulting in my enhanced body… And it seems that you can't drink any blood that's contaminated." The man stood up, cracking his neck. "Too bad for you, the people on PFE territory were in a nuclear war and now, their blood has been radioactively contaminated. So, you won't be getting any of our people for you supply unless you want to get sick!"

Vincent suddenly realized that his plan of getting a numinous supply of Gaians had hit a minor snag if everyone from the future Gaia had mutated blood. But he wasn't worried about that at the moment, he was more worried about what Ingo meant by "enhanced body". The human approached the sick vampire as he cracked his knuckles. "Now… Shall I show you _my_ power?"

The black-haired immortal gulped; he was so dead.

* * *

"Almost there! Almost there! Almost there!"

The group instantly ran into the engine room, Zack shutting the door against the huge group of BloodRaynes behind them. Thanks to Tadeh, they made it to the engine room without being overwhelm or killed by the mutant soldiers. Now, they just needed to cut the power to the weapon systems, which was easier said than done. Well, the problem was that even though it looked like a normal engine room, it wasn't normal to those who weren't verse with future Earth technology.

"… Gaia seems to like using complicating, blinking lights and switches," Tadeh commented, staring at the room, calmly. She had heard the rumors about the planet who _almost_ (Almost being the key word) had advance technology as her own world. Though it didn't look that advanced from her own race's, the way it was damaging the terra gave her much surprised.

"Dis ship was once our prized possession in our fleet," Stauffenburg said, "… Now, it's nothing more dan stolen junk." He really didn't care much for the ship, other than its destructive power. But he would rather see it in his hands than Hawk's any day.

Piper turned to the two, "That's great and all, but how do we shut this thing down?" The two looked over at her, both with a silent reply. Once noticing their faces of obliviousness, the tanned girl soon realized, "You guys don't know how to stop the ship? Lives are at stake and we can't just push random buttons!"

"We might as well," Zack said, as he tried to hold back the door, "And you better hurry up! These BloodRaynes guys really want in." Dawne quickly joined him in barricading the door as the others started to push buttons. For some reason, Piper was reminding of the time when they tried to take down Snipe's battleship. That's when she also realized that they really needed to learn how to shut down ships.

It was a few moments until Tadeh was getting tired and decided to use brute strength over mind to stop this ship. Using her own body, she punched and kicked against the entire room. The others just watched as she went berserk all over the place, not wanting to get in the way of her destruction. It was when that the Eurlian punched against a power line that the lights flickered. Piper quickly rushed over to a machine and saw one of the monitors showed a declining line.

"Guys! I think we did it!" the tanned girl called, causing the others to cheer. That was one problem down; now, they didn't to face the BloodRaynes, another obstacle that was easier said than done. There only two who could have take them on, but other than them, everyone else was as good as dead.

It was only a few second before Dawne moved away from the door and then turned, posing herself into battle position. "Zack, move…" The spiky brunette stared at her with wide-eyes. Was she really thinking that?

"Dawne, are you sure?" he asked, not wanting her to do it. Sure, he knew that there was a chance that she could make it out alive. But he didn't want to risk it for their own safety.

The silverette nodded, "Believe me, I think I could take those guys on." She took out her dual blade slowly but stylishly, ready for her on-coming attacks. Noticing the determination in her eyes, the young man gave a solemn look. He moved away from the door, causing the humanoid monsters to burst into the room. However, instead of the so-called massacre of two Atmosians, two experiments, and a crazy German, it was the opposite. Project KIRA was slicing through the BloodRaynes like butter.

"Come on!" shouted Piper as she and the others followed the woman. They quickly ran through the cut path that the silver-haired woman made. The group had done their part; they just hoped that the others would be okay with what they were doing.

* * *

For the Dragonkin, finding a safe haven for their friend to rest was like finding a needle in a haystack. Almost everywhere, there were either Talons or Undead were terrorizing. Not that they could take them on; however, looking for a hiding place for the Gaian was much more important than fighting. But with the way things were looking, they might as well just stay in the open and fight.

The trio stopped as they passed by the Murk Raiders, who were doing what they did best. They were carrying bags and crates of loot back to their own ship, probably collected from the terra during the invasion. As much they wanted to watch them work, they really want needed to go. Unfortunately, they were notice by them.

"What the heck are you doing?" Scabulous called as he rushed over to the trio. "The terra is under attack! You should grab everything you can and leave!" He handed Emma a treasure chest full of gold, causing her to fall to the ground. It seemed that she was still not back to physical shape yet.

Tokage glared at the Murk Raider, not happy about what they were doing, "Shouldn't you be leaving? That treasure would be pretty useless if all of you are in jail." The captain looked over at her with surprise on his face. Pretty soon, the expression changed to pure joy.

"Ahh, but the treasure will be useless if we don't steal it first," he replied in his happy tone, "Now come on! Help us out!" The three stared and were just about to take their leave, until the sounds of marching feet were heard. Everyone in the area slowly turned to see a huge blockade of Talons, blocking their path to the docks. They all had their staves raised, ready to strike against whoever stood in their way. Leading them was Ravess, smirking at the sight she saw.

"Well, well, well, second rates pirates, two scaly beasts, and a no-good Gaian," she mocked, laughing at them. "I might as well kill you off here. It's not like you doing anything is going to make a difference, especially with that useless brat." Everyone instantly glared at the woman, ready to spring on her. The brunette just stared in front of her before standing up.

Tokage noticed this, "Emma, you need help?" The white-scaled reptilian still knew that her friend was still injured from her fights. She didn't want the human to be hurt even more.

"No, I'm good," the brunette answered before turning to the horde, "You know what, Ravess? Shut up. I bet a million people are sick of how you blame them for their faults when it is usually your fault. You may consider yourself a perfectionist, but you still make mistakes and you also have the fault of not taking those mistakes." Now, she could have stop there with her rant. Unfortunately, she had the gull to continued, "Also, your violin playing is the worse than the dishes they serve at Skyway."

There was a sudden silence as everyone stared at the Gaian. They were at a loss for words for what she had said to Ravess. The Talon commander twitched at what she had heard her say; no one called her music horrible and gets away with it. "On my mark, we fire. Make sure to aim especially at the Gaian brat."

All the Talon grunts lifted up their staves and aimed at the people in front of them. Their target just gave out white faces of "Oh my god, I am going to die". Emma's was especially more so than the others. Oh well, at least her last words were an insult to Ravess. She clenched her hands and gulped, ready for the oncoming attack.

"FI-!"

"CHARGE!"

The Cyclonians lowered their staves as the ground started to rumble beneath their feet. Confused, they started to look around to where the source was coming from. It wasn't before long before that the army looked in from of them, their jaws dropping from what they saw. It seemed the locals weren't afraid of them anymore.

The Murk Raiders, Dragonkin, and Emma quickly got out of the way as the terra locals, man, woman, and children alike, rushed toward the fiends with weapons in hand. The soldiers, not giving second thought, just ran like hell for their lives. Ravess was the only one that stayed; miffed about her subordinates running when the first thing in the invasion goes wrong. "Come back here, you fools! Idiots!"

The group that got out of the stampeding horde looked over at the ranting woman, Scabulous commenting, "You know, maybe if someone took a hit at her, she could shut up and leave." Emma figured out what the captain was saying and turned to Tokage. Tokage figured out what the Gaian had planned and turned to Kuroi. Kuroi knew what everyone wanted, took his spear, and threw it like a javelin towards Ravess. It flew like a missile at the pink-haired perfectionist, cutting through the air like butter and landing right near her feet. The woman almost flinched at the impact, staring at the weapon in shock before turning to the group, who were making faces at her. Scowling, she got the message and started to take her leave, cursing those mongrels into oblivion.

"Yea! See those barbarians run!" shouted Kuroi as he went to retrieve his spear. He then realized his error in speech, "I mean the Cyclonians, not… Nevermind." He held his head as if he was having a headache. He wasn't good at taunting the enemy.

"… Kuroi, does it seem like we're missing something else in this scene?" Tokage asked, placing a finger on her chin. It only took a few seconds before the Dragonkin noticed Emma hiding behind them with Murk Raiders ready to pounce them. Suddenly realizing the situation they were in, the white-scaled lizard picked up Emma onto her back, and the group dashed out to find a good hiding spot yet again. Scabulous just snapped his fingers in anger; she got away again.

* * *

Lysander glared at his foe, beaten and tired from fighting off the minions of his "master". After fighting for several minutes, it seemed that he didn't make even a dent in the defense. Once he killed one, two would appear in its place, the other from the Necromancer's hand. He growled in annoyance, 'I swear, I shall make him pay for what he did.'

Meanwhile, George and Vireo watched the slow-going battle, the fox demon commenting, "This is getting nowhere." The Britain hated to agree. But with the endless zombies attacking the former leader of the Rex Guardians, he couldn't help but admit that the undead needed help. Still, he would have let him have his honor, even if it meant him being a separated, living corpse. The fox demon noticed the young man's expression and questioned, "Man, what is up with humans and their honor?"

"… Honor is a part of makes us human, even if it's different," the Gaian answered, still watching the ex-sky knight, "Of course with the way things are going now, I might have to step in and do something." His doubts weighed him heavily as the battle went on. It was only a few seconds later that his heart lifted with spirit. It looked like their undead friend had started to get headway towards the target. Things were finally starting to look up.

"Harry" also took notice and began to panic. Sweat dripped from his head as his heartbeat started to increase tempo. He didn't die; he didn't want to be impaled by the sword of his once almost loyal servant. So, in one last act, he activated his own crystal in hopes of summoning something bigger and stronger than his minions.

Suddenly, the ground underneath the Necromancer's feet as if there was an earthquake. It cracked along the brick road like breaks in the glass. He gulped before turning around, now in awe of what was appearing. A claw-like hand rose up before slamming itself onto the payment. The hand soon turned into an arm and then finally the entire torso popped out. The creature was of rotting, green flesh and it looked more monstrous than a common undead. It breathed deeply, sounding like deep growls. The cloaked man stood there before shooting his hands out to his sides, dropping his crystal in the process, and laughing like a maniac.

"You see! You see! This is now your doom! I have summoned a mighty minion of our master! He has come to crush you all, you heathens who fear death! Now, I am powerful than all of you, even more powerful than my leaders! Your entire world is now doom at the might of my master! Now, go and destroy them! Destroy them all!"

While "Harry" ranted his "You're doom" speech, the three against him just watched with worried looks. They didn't see a gigantic torso of a monster. There was only the scenery and a laughing loony, who looked he really believed that something was there. "… Must be fever." Vireo commented, not as shock by this as his allies at the moment.

The undead just stared at his former master before realizing his chance. Without the force of the skeleton warriors stopping him, he rushed at him with sword in hand. Once a few inches, he raised his weapon up, ready to strike down upon the crazed human. However at the last second, his conscious took over, knowing that he wouldn't be any better than the Necromancer himself. So, he slammed the sword down onto the crystal, causing every walking dead creature to revert back to their dead, inanimate self.

"Harry" suddenly snapped back to his reality but before he could even act, Lysander knocked him unconscious, "There; I hope whatever these people give you is your just punishment." The Necromancer didn't say anything back as he lay there. The ex-sky knight then turned to his comrades, who came running out once the skeleton warriors disintegrated. With joyous looks, they cheered at his accomplishment.

"Lysander! You did it!" George shouted with much enthusiasm. But then his tone turned confused when he asked, "But… How are you still living?" That was the undead's question too since he had destroyed the crystal and yet was still moving like he was still living. Was it because that whatever his former master did to him to make him more human? However, he lost his train of thought when he heard a scream coming from the ship hovering above them.

The group looked up at the _Armageddon_ with the look of terror on their faces, except for Vireo, who questioned, "Something awfully powerful and angry must be up there to cause that… I wonder if our sky knight will be strong enough to defeat it." Hearing the fox demon, the Rex Guardian held his head as if he had a migraine. He was feeling that power from that ship and… it was triggering something in his memory.

"_Insert a Drain Crystal into the body, place his body into the Mana Pools and resurrect him there. His body will absorb the mana in those pools to make him act almost like a free being. And once he wins the tournament, make him drain the Mana Stone. However, don't go over the limit, or else the crystal and body will break down. Do this and you will be reward."_

Lysander opened his eyes and removed his hand from his head very slowly. He remembered, he remembered how became living again… And he remembered what he must do now. The power the Necromancer wanted was in that ship and in order to save this terra, he must take that power away from whoever had it. There was just one problem… He didn't have any way to get up there.

"Are you ready?" asked a familiar voice from behind as he turned around to see four familiar robed figures. He didn't give the question a second thought since he nodded very solemnly. The one in red robes just stared at him. "Then, let us go." In a flash, the five including the undead had vanished, not leaving a trance of where they stood.

A second later, George and Vireo turned to find that their ally was gone. "Where did Lysander go?" asked George as he looked around for the ex-sky knight. The fox demon was silent during the ordeal. He had a feeling about what was going to happen next.

* * *

Back on the _Armageddon_, the super-powered Cyclonis still slowly but surely torture Aerrow to the brink of his death. His voice nearly soundless from all the screaming he did. The pain, the pain from the crystal witch was starting to take its toll on his body. And with Vezeel knocked out on the floor, it seemed to be no hope for help. It seemed to be the end for him.

"_Yes_,_ Aerrow_, _realize that your fate is sealed_." the empress taunted as she still shot her energy beam at him. She laughed maniacally, knowing that she had finally won and Atmos was going to be hers. What she didn't know was that behind her, someone was ready to jump her. And when she realized that someone was behind her, it was already too late as she was grabbed by Lysander himself.

The sudden surprise made the master stopped her energy beam, causing the sky knight drop onto the floor, barely alive. However, it took only a few seconds to get back to almost full strength. Standing up, he looked over at Cyclonis and the undead as the two struggled with each other. But while she was super powerful, she still didn't have that physical strength that her opponent possessed.

"Now, descendant of Cyclonis, I shall stop you!" The drain crystal inside Lysander's body started to take effect as the mana power from the empress' own drain crystal. The surge of energy rushed through his entire body, making him glow like it did with her. However, he could feel the strain from taking in too much power.

"Lysander!" Aerrow called out to the undead with fear in his eyes, "What are you doing?" He didn't even comprehend what was happening in front of him. But by the way his friend was looking, he didn't even want to think it.

The undead looked over as his eyes glowed, "Aerrow… I was created to take the Mana Stone's power. So, I am taking that power so the Cyclonians would never use it, even if it means destroying my body." The young boy gasped when he heard that. "But it's okay; I was already dead. I was meant to be dead ever since I came into this modern Atmos. In the past, I quietly feared that Cyclonia would still have its grasp on terras, but you… Your friends have shown me that you can defeat them. And with that, I wish you luck on your victory." After he spoke, light started to erupt from his decaying body. He then spoke, "Go, Aerrow! I'm not sure how long this body is going to last now!"

The red head just stared for a few seconds before nodding. He had a feeling about what was going to happen next. Without any hesitation, he quickly grabbed Vezeel's unconscious body and hurried away from the other two. Lysander smiled at their escape before dropping the now unconscious empress with her Drainer now dull. He moved away from her, his finals words as he walked, "Good bye, my friends…"

* * *

Aerrow still ran towards the exit, carrying Vezeel toward the exit. As much as he would rather let her stay, his noble sense of duty kept him from letting her stay and be cinders. Though, he had to admit that it was tough carrying her. A few feet from the entrance, he felt sudden movement as the Eurlian looked over, "Man, you're too goodie goodie for your own good."

The boy just kept walking, looking forward when he spoke, "I'm a sky knight. I'm supposed to save people, even if they are with the enemy or not." He stopped, now waiting for the others to arrive. It took a while, but he saw them coming down the hallway, with BloodRaynes right on their tail.

"Aerrow, let's go!" Piper said causing the red head to follow them, still carrying the blue-haired woman. The group quickly took notice of her and was ready to attack, before they that she was badly hurt. Piper, Dawne, and Zack felt sorry for her while Stauffenburg just scoffed at the sky knight's kindness. Tadeh, however, just stood silent.

"… Leave her, kid. She needs to stay here." she spoke, causing Aerrow to look at her, surprised. He really didn't know this woman, but he knew that no one could be that heartless. But for Vezeel as she looked over at her superior officer, she knew that Tadeh was thinking about their mission than her health.

Before the red head could speak, the injured Eurlian shouted, "You heard her. Go!" She threw him at the others who were standing close to where they enter, perhaps a bit too close. The impact caused by crashing into the group made them a bit unbalance, making them lean out of the hole and over the ground far below. A second later, they were falling out of the ship, hurdling downward through the air.

Panic filled their faces as they fell towards the terra. Well all except for Tadeh and Stauffenburg, both were extremely calm during the drop. It looked like it was the end for them until something grabbed them at midair. Now the question was, who got them?

* * *

A shockwave ran through the _Armageddon_, causing both Hawk and Jack/Dracula stumbled during their fight. They didn't know what caused it, but the half vampire had a pretty good guess that whatever it was meant that the Cyclonians had fail whatever their mission was. He smiled, taunting, "**Well**, **it seems that your allies have fail once again**."

The Atlantean sneered before using his metal arms to grab his enemy by the neck. "You may be right. Too bad for you, I am already strong without my allies." He threw Jack/Dracula out of the window, making the glass break behind his body and causing him to fall outside. He looked down at his falling foe, smirking that he finally had conquered. Unfortunately, he noticed a black shadow grabbing the body in midair.

Growling, he turned to his crew and ordered, "Retreat for now." His loyal soldiers nodded before moving his ship away from the terra. Jack and his friends may have won this round, but he will have his day soon enough.

Down below, Jack now back to his old self looked at whoever had grabbed him. It took a while for his vision to clear to see who it was. By then, he simply smiled and said, "Never thought you would come here, Mikki."

"I wouldn't miss this for anything, hunny." The brunette woman said, turning to him with a smile. They flew through the air on their skimmer, watching the fleeing air ship retreat. Then, the two looked over at the group of Night Ravens, who also had saved their friends from falling to their death. After that, they looked at each other and did a quick kiss. Mikki went back to driving the skimmer. Her husband on the other hand lay against her back. After the day he had, he was finally ready to get some rest.

* * *

"… It seemed that you lost." Ingo stared up at the _Armageddon_, now moving away from the target terra. He was satisfied, seeing that the escaping vessel. It meant that victory was in their hands now. Turning to the beaten vampire, he said, "Now, it is your turn."

Vincent wasn't pretty much pretty after the Russian took care of him. He was just a punching bag since he tried to drink his blood. He snarled, hating the fact that this human defeated him because of some little mistake. However, he soon smiled and spoke, "Wait! I could help you?"

"… What?" The man cocked an eyebrow at the vampire's offer. He didn't know what he needed help for or if he really needed this man's help. He didn't even know if he wanted his help.

"I know you types of human," Vincent began with smile, "You are underappreciated, misunderstood. Thus, you seek power for your own ambitions, to become ruler over all things with an iron fist. If you let me go free, I can make you ruler. If you don't, well, your fault."

Ingo just stared at the black-haired man, being in silent thought. He was right about his ambition. But did he really want to risk his alliance with the PFE for his own dream? He truly did believe in the Soviet Union's policy before the Berlin Wall was torn down, a policy that his other friends didn't like. He quickly shook his head and was ready to punch the vampire. However, he now discovered that his opponent had escaped while he was thinking.

He put his fists down and stared up at the sky. The Russian didn't want to chase after a mangy bat. After all, they won the battle. He, along with everyone else, deserved some rest.

* * *

An hour later and the terra started to clean up the ruins of the battle. Houses damaged, broken glass littering the streets, and a sizable number of bodies to put to rest, the people of Terra Colussmis had their work cut out for them. Although they didn't waste any time doing what they did. The men quickly brought their dead brethren to the forest's edge and gave them a proper burning. The rest started to pick up the destruction that lay on their streets. Other than the treasure stolen by the Murk Raiders, the people of Colussmis were going to be fine. But first, there was just one piece of business to finish up.

"For your matchless spirit and your compassion for saving our terra," their leader proclaim to the Storm Hawks' leader, "I present you with this shard of the Mana Stone, our once-hidden treasure now known to everyone here. With this, we choose to fight alongside the sky knights in their quest to defeat Cyclonia!" He placed the necklace with the dim stone around the boy's neck. The two then bowed to each other before turning to the cheering crowd. They yell loudly for his success, including his friends. Everyone was glad that he won.

After a while, the kid turned to the old man. "It's been a true honor fighting in your tournament and I thank you for joining our cause." He then changed his tone when he spoke, "But… I didn't do this alone. I had help from my crew, the Thunder Eagles, Dawne, Vireo, Jack and his friends; everyone had a part in this, including your people. As much as I would accept this, I think everyone here deserves a piece of the Mana Stone." A groan from Finn was heard throughout the audience before Piper elbowed him.

"But… We have always given a shard of our precious crystal to the winner. It is a pact that the stone would be kept a secret," the leader replied. He didn't want to break the traditions their ancestors past down. After all, they were there for a reason.

"I know that, but everyone here knows about it now. And it won't be long before others will know about it too, some being criminals like the Murk Raiders." Aerrow's comment made some murmurs among the crowd. They were concerned about what would happen now.

The leader looked down and asked, "Then… What are we going to do?" The sky knight could hear the concern in his voice, seeing that he didn't want a battle that would result in total death. Heck, nobody wanted that.

"I… may have a solution."

* * *

"So… Everyone is getting a Mana Stone shard?" Finn questioned while holding up his piece. "I got to say… That's probably your best idea ever." The Storm Hawks looked around them at the others who had the shard. Kids and grownups of Colussmis wore the piece of crystal around their necks, proud that they had a part of their culture with them. Everyone else could agree that it was a pretty good decision too.

"And the best part is that if someone wants that power again, then they have to look for _all _the shards," Aerrow spoke as he looked at the group. "The crystal has been smashed completely and the locals are going to sell whatever is left as souvenirs." He held his shard and stared at it intensely. "It's the least we could do for these people… and Lysander."

"… And I guess this means we're not getting a prize like last time?" Stork uttered, being on his "I knew this was going to happen" mood. The red head was silent for a while, not sure what to say about the helmsman's prediction. He opened his mouth the say something until a large pound was heard behind them.

The gang turned to see the three Roc Brothers along with a ton of crates. "Here you go, a year's supply of our best jerky! Our leader thought that this might be a good prize since we're giving out a limited supply of shards." The Storm Hawks stared with mouths agape, except for Junko, who had his mouth wide open. With him, a year's supply would be a three months' supply.

Rhia sat and watched as her friends stared at the crates. She glad they got the jerky; her squadron had plenty of food anyway. Besides, she had a crystal shard to study. Placing both of her hands under her face, she asked, "So, I guess you're going to be leaving too, huh?"

"Well, it is inevitable," Vireo spoke right next to her, "I need head back home anyway. This place has been fun, but I have other things to attend to. Besides, Osprey might go on a rampage here since I locked her in the closet to make sure she wouldn't be captured again."

The Wild Cat laughed before looking up at the sky. "… Did you know that this was going to happen?" She heard demons, especially fox demons, had a second sense when it came to these kinds of things. If the demon knew that this was going to happen, he could have let them know.

Vireo was silent for a while before answering, "Even if I had known, wouldn't it change anything?" She thought about it for a moment, wondering if this was a rhetorical question. "Anyway, this is goodbye until our paths cross again." And with that, he left, leaving no trace of himself for Rhia to indentify.

"So, you're going back to home?" Kuroi asked as he polished his spear. He and Tokage were sitting on a bench, just relaxing. During that time, he thought about what his childhood friend was going to do afterward or not. He knew he was going to head back home for more training, but he really wasn't sure what she was doing.

"Yes," Tokage answered, her hair blowing in the wind. "It has been a long time since I've been there. I might as well see how everyone is doing. After all, we are riding with the Storm Hawks together." Oh yeah, there was the condition of them not having a ride and thus had to travel with the Storm Hawks. Therefore, it was going to be impossible to head to Terra Bogaton.

"Tokage…" He started as he stood up. The white-scaled lizard just stared, waiting for whatever he was going to say. It could have been important, like if he had some news about their terra. But after a while, he shook his head and said, "Nevermind, it's nothing."

She stared at him before replying, "Okay, let's tell Aerrow that we're ready to leave." She stood up and started to walk towards the group, relaxing her arms behind her shoulders. The white-haired Dragonkin just watched her walk before following her. He looked down before shaking his head, reminding himself that what he was going to say to her was nothing.

Both Dawne and Zack walked through town, happy that this was all over. It was fine and all, but it would have been better without the invasion. Anyway, Project KIRA was ready for a relaxing vacation until a jo0b opportunity. The spiky-haired man looked towards her and asked, "Are you ready to leave?"

"Yup, to Terra Tropica or Terra Ray," she answered back, "Or somewhere that doesn't have any communication for a loooong time." Zack laughed at her sentence; she had some wit about her. And so, the two of them started to leave Colussmis ready to start on something else.

* * *

"This is all _your_ fault!"

"Why are you making this my fault? _You _were the one who ran away from them!"

Cyclonis held her head as she continued to listen to the siblings bicker. She didn't what was worse: them or having a hangover after that power rush. Oh, she had it all; she almost had destroyed her greatest adversary. But if it wasn't for that undead Harrier clone, she would have had the entire Atmos in her hands. "Ugh, make them stop yelling."

"Our mission would have been better if those sky knights and their allies wouldn't have been there in the first place," Dark Ace complained as he looked at his master. "However, I shall take the blame and promise you that I will destroy them, including the Storm Hawks!"

"Yes… They will be destroyed." Cyclonis still held her head, rubbing to stop the migraine. "Unfortunately, the quickest way to defeat them is now lost. However, we could still get them through psychological warfare." The girl's evil mind started to tick at the idea. "First, we'll start with the weakest link, and then we'll crush them like the ants they are."

"I couldn't agree with you more, master," The Cyclonian commander commented as Vezeel overheard the two talking. She scowled, wishing to kick that suck-up in the face. The result though wouldn't have been very productive for her mission. But it would still give her much more pleasure in his pain than anything else right now.

"Well, well, I guess this is goodbye for me," a familiar voice said as the Eurlian looked over at Vincent, who was staring at a crystal, "Luckily for me, I only went with the Talons for my Victoria. Of course, I don't exactly trust if this really is an Eternity Crystal or not."

"Then why did you do it?" asked Vezeel, tapping her fingers on her knees. She knew some would do it if something was at stake. That is why an enemy would have the upper hand in this.

The vampire smirked. "I did it for my Victoria for whom I owe my strength, even more so since I learned the Gaians are contaminated." He carefully pocketed the crystal as he continued to talk, "Anyway, I shall take my leave. Come, Victoria." The young woman who he had brought followed after him as he took his leave. The Eurlian watched the two leave. Ahh, love… Too bad it acted like a double-edged sword.

* * *

"WAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

"… What's going on?" Aerrow asked when he, Piper, Tokage, and Kuroi entered the bridge of the Condor. Junko was bawling his eyes out, hugging his cute little teddy bear with brute force. Finn was trying to comfort his friend, though it wasn't helping much. As for Stork, he was unusually happy all of a sudden.

The blonde looked over at his leader. "Jack wanted to speak with Emma about staying with them on their terra, which means she won't be crashing here anymore." Oh, that's the reason why Junko was so sad and Stork was smiling like a mad clown. The red head sighed; it wasn't that dramatic.

"Look, guys, I know it's sad that Emma might leave us…" The wallop cried even more when the sky knight said that. "But you got to understand, it is her choice. We can't force her to stay with us if she doesn't want to."

"I know, but…" Junko sniffled before he went into big bawl. "I'M GOING TO MISS HER!" Everyone except for Stork covered their ears for the engineer's excessive crying. They knew it was sad, but still, it wasn't like she was going to be far away. And they could always visit her when they wanted to. Of course, they weren't really prepared for what happen next.

"Miss who?" asked a very familiar voice as everyone quickly turned to who said that. In was in a second afterwards that the group was shock while the carrier pilot looked disappointed. A certain someone was back on _his _ship.

"EMMA!"

Everyone yelled as Junko quickly hugged their Gaian friend to death, soon to be followed by Finn, Tokage, and Kuroi. Aerrow and Piper just stared with smiles on their faces as Stork grumpily went back to his post. The sky knight hesitated, "But… Everyone thought you would with the PFE."

"Yeah, but I then realized that I have a mission here that would be better if I remain mobile," she answered as she flopped onto the couch, "Besides, I've settled here. It would be a hassle to move to wherever I go next. So, I'm staying."

A big smile started to form on Aerrow's face. "Alright! Stork, head us to Terra Ryu!" The merb grumbled as he drove the Condor out of the dock and into the sky again. Everyone looked back at the terra, remembering the time they had on it. It was a good time, meeting with old friends and fighting old enemies. Though, they really wished it would have gone better.

* * *

A few days later on Terra Mojave in a little Western-like tavern, Jack was telling the patrons there about his time at the tournament. From his landing on the terra to the aftermath of the invasion, he didn't leave any detail out. The people there listened with full attention; one of them in particular was very interested. When the chancellor was done and everyone went back to drinking, he asked, "So, is the girl from Earth really that pretty?"

Jack looked over and answered, "Depends, do you like to meet her someday?" The blonde gazed at him before looking out the window. He smiled big as he picked up his glass and drank. Only one thought crossed his mind as he stared up at the sky.

He would like to meet this girl.

* * *

Author's Notes:

FINALLY! I'm done!

Again, remind me never to do this again, it took almost two years to finish… Anyway, I had fun doing this. Just didn't know it would take this long. Hope you guys like it too.

My inspiration for this came from the Fighting tournaments on DeviantArt. I wanted to do a challenge like those, however because I didn't have scanner or a good art program like Photoshop, I went with writing as the next thing… If you know what I'm talking about, kudos to you.

I would also like to thank SakariWolfe, Flame Soldier, Hawk-Masters, Kitten2007, NekoNekoMinako, and azdx for their use of characters, and them including Cold-heart-Angel23 and Page-Mistress for the reviews. They really help move the story along.

I also have an important message involving my future work, but it is in the story I uploaded after this. If you are interested, please read and look.

So, here ya go!

Please Read and Review!


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